The Hunt Anew
by MiraculousNova
Summary: A huntress's journey towards the truth.
1. Chapter 1

_How did it come to this?_

Those words repeated themselves incessantly inside Elequinn's mind as she hid her face in her hands, tears streaming down her face. The cave that she was taking shelter in barely kept out the cold winds of the tundra, and her body felt absolutely chilled to the bone. Her hair, dyed a bright aquamarine and tied up into a single wild looking ponytail, bobbed slowly in motion with her crying.

Every now and again, Elequinn's sobbing would cease, but the moment she looked at her palms and iron armor covered in the dried blood of what had once been her former comrades, the painful reality caused her to relapse into a pathetic weeping heap once more.

_It should have been an easy hunt. Hell, it wasn't even supposed to have been much of a hunt to begin with. We were merely supposed to deliver a few tongues from Popos, and a couple of Anteka horns. It should have been a simple carve-and-deliver job. So what went wrong?_

* * *

When the hunting instructor gave the groups their task for the day, the majority of the trainees had scoffed at what they had to do. Elequinn had simply bit her tongue – as much as she wanted vengeance on the monsters that took her parents' lives, she knew that becoming a hunter required patience and resolve. Charging headfirst into a monster's den was the equivalent of someone trying to run when they did not even know how to walk – a mistake that would have severe consequences.

Still, the girl couldn't deny that there was a desire to prove her worth as a hunter as soon as possible to the world. It was the entire reason she had signed up for the hunter training program as soon as she hit the age requirement after all.

Just like the other trainees, the instructor had grouped Elequinn in with three other cadets, each one equipped with the same iron armor and sword and shield as her. She had introduced herself accordingly, and the other three trainees then introduced themselves in return.

The first of the three was a handsome looking blonde male, who took the lead to shake Elequinn's hand and introduced himself as Joe. He had seemed both amicable and knowledgeable enough at the time that the girl took an instant liking to him. The other male in the group called himself Stephen – he was a black haired man with a stout physique, complete with a booming voice and a penchant for laughter. The final member of the group was a female named Amelia. Unlike the other two, she possessed a cold stare that befitted her long brown hair and blue eyes.

After a brief moment of conversation with her newfound comrades, Elequinn quickly discovered that Joe would often assume the role of the leader in the group. The girl didn't have any objections with the decision to follow the blonde haired man's commands. She knew that in the field of battle, it was easier to follow orders than to actually be the one giving them.

With so many of the hunters in training feeling headstrong over the seemingly mundane quest they had been given, it came as no surprise that the majority felt both shock and despair when not one of them could find a trace of the herbivores that they were supposed to acquire the items from.

It was then that Joe came up with a seemingly brilliant idea at the time.

"Just follow my lead, I know where we can find a herd of those herbivores. We're gonna leave every one of those other groups in the dust."

The rest of the group thought it over, and quickly came to a consensus to head deeper into the tundra. Elequinn had initially voiced some unease over moving beyond the training area, but ultimately decided to head out anyway. In hindsight, it had been a fatal mistake. The benefits of returning to their instructor with the quest item in hand and the possibility of earning a few extra brownie points had blinded them to the dangers they were exposing themselves to.

It would have all been fine, had a storm not suddenly rolled in as they were traversing across the harsh mountainous terrain. The harsh winds that had appeared from nowhere began to blow relentlessly, and the thick snow effectively reduced visibility to a minimum. Exhausted from having to brave the weather just after finishing a climb up a cliff wall, Elequinn had made the decision to temporarily stop and catch her breath.

That decision had saved her life. A second after she stopped moving, a huge shadow emerged from the ground and shook the ice off its humongous body, causing the other cadets in front of Elequinn to be caught in the residue. In the blizzard, only the silhouette of the hulking creature was visible, but whatever it was had no distinguishing features. Elequinn could only be sure of one thing: the monster possessed no wings. The beast had let loose an ear-splitting roar before bringing down one of its muscular legs onto the struggling trainees in front of it.

The rest of her memory was hazy - Elequinn only recalled running for her life after that point, leaving her group behind as awful screams of fear and agony filled the air, blotted out shortly after by the howling wind. It was a shameful act for a hunter, but the fear and adrenaline Elequinn felt at the time robbed her of her reasoning and simply screamed at her mind and body to keep running.

She made the mistake to turn around and slow her pace down once – and for a moment felt some relief to see Joe right on her knees. That feeling was short-lived however, as a sickening _crunch_ soon sounded, and Joe's body crumpled like a piece of paper as he was dragged backwards by a pair of hungry maws. The beast was seemingly not content with having killed two trainees, and was still on the hunt for more. As the creature shook Joe's now limp body in its twisted jaws, both its spit and the blood from the corpse splattered onto Elequinn, and she distinctly remembered letting out another scream of horror before taking off at full speed once more.

* * *

And now, here she was, seemingly having ran forever before her mind finally cleared up. When she was finally dragged back to reality by the harsh piercing wind blowing into her face, Elequinn had found herself at the mouth of a cave, and decided that it would be in her best interest to temporarily take refuge in it and wait the storm out.

Letting out a tired sigh, the girl did her best to stifle her crying. She had to be strong. There was no place in the hunter's guild for weaklings. Survival came first, self-pity after. Provided she made it out of her predicament, she would have plenty of time to mourn her fallen comrades.

Clenching her fists, Elequinn stood up and surveyed the situation outside. The blizzard had reduced in intensity, but it was still dangerous to head out in her current situation. Whatever the creature she and the rest of her now deceased team had encountered was, it had managed to deform her armour without even physically touching her.

_Maybe I should wait until that thing is gone. Or perhaps…_

She found herself looking down at her weapon: a standard guild issued sword and shield crafted from iron ores. Elequinn knew for certain that such a weapon stood no chance against the beast that had attacked her. No, it wasn't just the weapon – in her current state of mind, she wasn't even sure that she could take down _anything,_ even with the best weapons a blacksmith could forge.

Her hands moved to the back of her utility belt, where all hunters kept their carving knifes – a symbol of their pride and status. She too possessed one, but it was a crude imitation of the real thing – just another item issued by the guild for hunters in training.

Pulling it out and staring at the knife in her hands, Elequinn found her thoughts drifting off to her parents. She had been born into an uncommon family – a blacksmith father and a hunter mother. Each day, her parents would part after giving each other a long embrace, and the girl will never forget the worry that appeared on her dad's face as her mother left for the hunt of the day.

"_What if the armor I made for her wasn't strong enough? What if it breaks halfway through?"_

She always had to comfort him, offering words of encouragement and hope. And sure enough, her mother would always return at the end of the day without fail, with a new sack of items carved from the monster she had taken down. Elequinn would always watch as the two of them embraced lovingly, never quite understanding why her father was so worried. After all, in her eyes, no monster stood a chance against her mother.

Then all that changed. It had been just another day in her life, and as usual Elequinn remembered witnessing her parents give each other a loving hug. Her mother then stepped out of their house, but at the end of the day she never returned. Instead, a sombre looking man knocked on their door the next day, and her father exchanged hushed words with the man after locking Elequinn in her room. When they were done, he gave her daughter a hug that lasted longer than usual.

Ever since then, the girl's remaining memories of her father were those of him locking himself away in his workshop, pounding away on his anvil and going through blueprints feverishly all day long. And then one day, without warning, her father had simply collapsed – the combination of the guilt on his mind and the labour he had put himself through day after day had been too much for his body to handle.

A sudden shaking of the ground caused Elequinn to snap out of her reverie. She would have to worry about what her father would think about her some other time. The creature that had ravaged her team was close – perhaps it sensed the warmth of her body amongst the coldness of the snow and ice?

Her teal eyes surveyed the surroundings. The snowstorm had now weakened significantly, and Elequinn found that her visibility was no longer as limited compared to before. From her position, she could see the base camp far downhill, a thin trail of smoke acting as a sure sign that there was still people there. Her path was blocked by rocks and steep cliffs, but she had used her weapon to scale them before, so there was no reason for her to worry about not being able to get down.

A plan formulated itself in her mind – should the monster decide to pass by the cave's entrance, Elequinn would thrust her carving knife into its flesh, and pray that it would prove a good enough distraction for her to sprint past the trees. From there, she should then proceed to clamber down the cliff with help from her weapon. It was a plan that sounded simple on paper, but would require every inch of her reflexes to execute. Elequinn couldn't help but smile a little – perhaps she took after her father more than she thought.

"He always had the best ideas, but acting upon them was something else."

Another quake caused some of the icicles on the ceiling to fall and shatter onto the ground. Her hands began to shake from both the anticipation and excitement, and Elequinn attempted to control her fear by tightening her grip on the carving knife.

"A hunter is...the perfect machine," the huntress-in-training spoke to herself once more, this time quoting the words of her mother when she had questioned her about hunting during one night long ago. "The machine that knows not failure."

An ugly black face turned the corner, twitching slightly as it registered the sight of the hunter positioned in front of it. A thin puddle of saliva formed underneath it as a grotesque tongue licked its hungry lips.

That was her cue to go. Letting out a war cry, Elequinn kicked herself off the cave's entrance, leaping towards the monstrous beast and plunging the knife she held in her arms into its head. The knife bounced off uselessly, but the act itself was more than enough to cause the monster to stagger backwards in surprise.

Her window of opportunity granted, Elequinn took off as fast as her legs could take her. As she sprinted past the rocks, the girl felt their rough texture grinding against her soles. A quick glance at her feet confirmed her fears – her shoes appeared distorted and warped, and seemed to melt away before her eyes with every step she took.

_Did I step in its drool?_

The frozen ground sent chilling waves of coldness up her legs, but the numbing sensation was hardly enough to slow the girl's pace. She knew that a much more terrible fate awaited her if she stopped her running, and despite her rugged breathing and aching muscles she willed her body to keep moving.

Approaching the cliff, Elequinn jumped off without hesitation, twisting her body around to thrust her iron blade into the wall and slowing her descend. It was a bold move, and the sudden momentum change caused her muscles to groan in disagreement. The blade proved unworthy of holding her up however, and promptly snapped into two, causing the girl to land on her butt at the bottom of the cliff.

Still, the weapon had done its work and kept her alive, and Elequinn couldn't be more satisfied with the outcome. Picking herself up, the girl allowed herself a brief moment to catch her breath. A roar from above the cliff reminded her that she still wasn't out of danger yet however, and with a final burst of energy, the girl took off towards the base camp.

It was only a straightforward path from that point on, and Elequinn felt the adrenaline in her body burning out as she approached the training encampment. It didn't take long for the other trainees to notice her, and the astonishment and relief on their faces reminded the girl of her father's expression each time her mother returned from a hunt. The hunting instructor was the first to approach her, running towards her and asking her exactly what had happened.

Elequinn's reply was a simple shake of her head as her knees finally gave in.

She had done it. She survived.


	2. Chapter 2

A soft, almost feathery sensation spread through Elequinn's body as a gentle breeze coursed through her hair. Turning her head around in confusion, the girl narrowed her teal colored eyes as she looked into the distance, hoping to find something that would act as a clue of her whereabouts. As far as she could see however, there was nothing but pure whiteness stretching out all over the horizon.

_Snow…?_

Indeed, the utter paleness of the area reminded Elequinn of freshly fallen snow. Yet somehow, the girl found herself shuddering at that thought. A nagging feeling chewed away at her mind, although she could not remember precisely what it was that perturbed her so. Surely she had forgotten something?

_Something happened here. First there was white, then red. And then-_

As if in answer to her thoughts, a bulky black beast burst through the ground a few feet in front of her, letting out a triumphant roar and causing Elequinn to recoil backwards in shock. The ground where the creature had emerged was stained an ugly crimson. _Now _she remembered. How could she have forgotten?

Gripped tightly in the creature's jaws were the remains of the three other trainees who had been grouped with her shortly before their demise – Joe, Stephen and Amelia. Their bodies had been mangled horribly by the beast, and each one of them were barely recognizable. As she watched, the monster in front of her began to devour them one by one, biting huge chunks of flesh out from the corpses.

"No! Let go of them!_" _Elequinn found herself screaming at the beast as she moved towards it, her hands instinctively moving to her waist to grab her weapon. Her palms found themselves grasping at thin air instead, and it was at this point that the girl finally realized that she was in fact weaponless.

Her shouting had been heard however, and the salivating creature in front of Elequinn turned its head towards her, an insatiable hunger gleaming in its beady red eyes. Kicking the corpses of the trainees towards the huntress, Elequinn found herself frozen in both fear and guilt as she stared at the bloodied bodies. Although they had been greatly mutilated by the monster, the girl noticed that the dead cadets seemed to almost be glaring at her, their eyes brimming with hatred and blame.

_Are they angry at me for leaving them behind?_

"It wasn't my fault," tears started to stream down Elequinn's face as she found herself looking up into the maws of the monster before her. She could smell its putrid breath mixed in with the stink of rotting flesh as it breathed onto her, opening its mouth to reveal rows of razor sharp yellow teeth. A low growl sounded from inside the belly of the beast as it lowered its lips around Elequinn's head, almost as if it was relishing the power it held over the huntress. "Please-"

Then, in a single smooth and practiced motion, the jaws clamped shut.

* * *

A sudden intake of fresh air into her lungs caused Elequinn to gasp, and the girl found herself looking at a magnitude of different colors, each dancing before her. Her body felt heavy, and it took some effort for Elequinn to move her hands and bring them towards her eyes to rub them. That action did the trick however, and the colors soon melted away, replaced by a dull gray ceiling with a single fan attached to it that was blowing cold air towards her.

As she got up, Elequinn found that she had been lying on a fluffy lavender colored bed sheet drenched with sweat – no doubt thanks to the nightmare she had earlier. Her head hurt slightly, and the girl's limbs felt weaker than they had ever been before. Deciding that attempting to move straightaway without warming up was not the best of ideas, Elequinn instead opted to stretch her arms and legs while still seated. She felt some minor muscle strains as she did, and the girl felt glad that she did not try to jump out of bed as she usually did upon waking up.

Stifling a yawn, Elequinn looked around groggily as she collected her thoughts. She recognized the room she was in as her own, and it didn't come as much of a surprise to the girl that the Guild decided to send her back home to rest after her ordeal. Rays of sunlight shone in from the slightly ajar window, hinting to her that it was some time in the middle of the afternoon. The gray walls surrounding her was a welcome sight, and Elequinn never thought that it was possible for her to be feeling this glad to be sitting snugly in her bed at home.

_A close shave with death does change one's perception of life after all…_

Looking downwards, Elequinn found that she was dressed in her usual home attire: a white t-shirt with a matching pair of knee-length beige pants. Her aquamarine tinted hair brushed against her arms as she moved her head, and it was then the girl realized that her hair was undone. But since no one else was around, she couldn't care less about how her appearance at the moment.

On the foot of her bed was an entire collection of stuffed toys designed after several monsters, although made to look much less menacing and significantly cuter than they would be in reality. There were eighteen in total – the girl knew this by heart because her father would buy her a new one during her birthday every year without fail. Reaching out for her favorite, an inflated Zamtrios with a round and adorable body, Elequinn gave the toy a tight hug.

Such an act would always provide temporary relief to her, and Elequinn let out a sigh as she looked at the mini Zamtrios in her arms. Up till the incident in the tundra, she thought she had been prepared sufficiently to become a top grade hunter. Under her mother's guidance, she had been making steady progression since young, training her physical and mental fortitude diligently. Even long after her mother vanished after leaving for her last hunt, Elequinn had not stopped searching for ways to improve her skills out in the field.

At least, that had been what she thought. Out in the coldness of the tundra, facing an actual monster before her, the girl came to the harsh realization that no amount of preparation could have readied her for a real hunt. She would never forget the way her feet froze, how her heart had palpitated so wildly in fear, and how she had made the choice to abandon her comrades.

_In the end, I'm still nothing compared to mother._

A sudden rattle of the doorknob made Elequinn turn towards her room's door in surprise, and a split second later a familiar figure entered the room. The girl's first thought was that it was her father, heading into her room to reprimand her for ignoring his concerns over her wellbeing and registering herself to become a hunter anyway. Much to her astonishment however, the black haired male that entered the room couldn't be any more different from her normally depressed looking parent.

Tanned and robust, the man that stood before Elequinn was about an entire head taller than her, and had unkempt hair with a fringe that covered the entire upper portion of his face, blocking out his eyes from view almost entirely. Only his sharp nose and clean shaven cheeks were untouched by his disheveled black hair, giving the male an almost goofy looking appearance. He was wearing a black and featureless singlet and a pair of blue jeans, complete with a pair of sport sneakers on his legs. Draped over his shoulders was a red jacket that had the design of a Rathalos emblazoned onto it, and it was this particular piece of clothing that caught Elequinn's attention.

"G- Galix? Is that you?" The girl could hardly believe her eyes. A small part of her mind questioned the view before her – perhaps she was still dreaming?

"Morning, sunshine," the man that she had addressed as Galix gave Elequinn a charming smile. "How're you feeling?"

"How am _I _feeling? What about _you?_ Where the heck have you been the past month? Whatever happened to you? Were you kidnapped or something?"

Elequinn quickly found a barrage of questions flowing uncontrollably from her lips. It had, after all, been at least thirty days since she last saw her childhood friend. The girl had presumed the worst at the time when he went missing mere hours before his official admittance exam into the Hunter's Guild. Although she had reported his disappearance to the Guild, they had seemingly minimal interest in locating a greenhorn hunter, and no further action was done after a brief investigation was performed. To make matters worse, Elequinn could not find a single trace of the most recent birthday gift she had given to him either – the same red jacket that Galix was now carrying around his shoulders.

"Whoa there, one question at a time Elly," the well-built man smiled knowingly as he closed the door behind him, ensuring that it was properly closed before he continued, "But before anything else, you might want to soften your voice a little. It's preferable that no one knows I'm here."

"Huh?" Elequinn blinked in confusion before narrowing her eyes with suspicion at Galix's weird request. "Why would you not want people to know you're back?"

"See, I'm sort of in a certain position such that the dogs of the Hunter's Guild would be absolutely _craving _for a chance to arrest me on sight, and put me on trial," Galix replied matter-of-factly, walking over to the window and taking a brief look outside.

Something in his tone of voice told Elequinn that her friend was not lying. Despite their two year age difference, they _had _sort of grown up together in the same household, and as a result the both of them knew each other like the back of their hands. It was exactly because of this that the girl's curiosity desired to be sated. She knew Galix wasn't the type of person to perform a felony for no good reason – what then could possibly have driven him to become an enemy of the Guild?

"What's going on?" Elequinn found herself staring at Galix as he continued to look out the window, his eyes darting around as if he was searching for something.

"I'll tell you later. For now, those people from the Guild should be coming over to your house right about…now," the male darted away from the window quickly as he said that, and as if on cue, Elequinn heard her doorbell ring. "Now then, be careful what you say. And if they ask about me, I was never here."

Raising one of her eyebrows in confusion, Elequinn watched as Galix opened her wooden wardrobe and stepped into it, pushing the clothes to one side to make room for himself. "A tad stuffy, but it'd have to do."

No sooner had he closed the wardrobe doors did Elequinn hear the sound of two voices approaching her room. She recognized one of them as her father, but she did not know who the other party was. Whoever it was didn't sound very friendly though, for they possessed a raspy voice and an impolite tone. As the voices drew closer, Elequinn hugged the Zamtrios toy in her arms tightly. She wasn't sure what to make of her entire situation, but it seemed as though something bigger was afoot.

"I'm telling you for the umpteenth time, she's _still_ unconscious-" Her father's voice cut short as he opened the door to Elequinn's room and found her staring back at him. "Oh."

"What is it? Is she awake? Well it's about _damn_ time I finally get to write my report. Get out of my way," the raspy voice sounded behind Elequinn's white haired father, and the neatly dressed elderly man rolled his eyes before stepping aside.

An old male Wyverian dressed in orange stepped into her room, and Elequinn found herself staring at the aged being in wonder. She had often heard and read about the Wyverians working at the Hunter's Guild, but have never actually had the chance to speak to one of them until now. His short stature and grumpy looking face complete with tuffs of white hair and a long moustache gave him an overall grouchy appearance, not unlike those of cranky old men.

"I'm not going to bother with any pleasantries, Miss Ferami," the Wyverian took out a pen and a piece of paper as he spoke, "I have another meeting coming up after this, and I'm a _very_ busy individual, so let's just get this report over and done with."

"Erm, okay?" Elequinn wasn't pleased with the attitude that the Wyverian was giving her, but she didn't want to risk angering the Wyverian further by challenging him.

"Now then, according to the instructor in charge of batch of cadets, you and the group you were supposed to be with went missing shortly after being officially dispatched on your training mission, correct?"

Elequinn replied with a nod.

"Some time later, you came stumbling towards the camp, with none of your team members in sight. Care to explain what happened?"

"We…encountered _something_ deeper into the tundra," the girl visibly grimaced at this point. "A wyvern of some kind, blackish in color."

"Details, Miss Ferami, more details. Any other distinguishing features about the creature you remember?"

"Well, whatever it was, its saliva was able to melt away the iron armor the Guild had provided with ease."

"Saliva?" The Wyverian's pen stopped writing for a moment as he looked at her with bright eyes that hinted at a large intellect hiding behind his tiny physique. "We did notice your armor appeared worse for wear, but you're _positive_ it was caused purely by the creature's spit and not by you falling down a steep cliff or being hit by a claw swipe?"

"No, it was definitely the saliva," Elequinn shook her head fiercely as she recalled how the metallic soles of her shoes had disintegrated in front of her mere moments after she had accidentally stepped into a puddle of the beast's drool.

"And this monster, you said, was _black_? Not, say, green, by any chance?"

The girl closed her eyes as her mind replayed the scene where the monster had found her hiding inside the cave. Now that the Wyverian mentioned it, she _had _glimpsed a few splotches of dark green on the creature's body as she was stabbing its face in with a carving knife. But there had been an overwhelming amount of the color black as well, particularly around its head. Opening her eyes, Elequinn answered the question posed to her with confidence, "It was both."

"Ah, that's worrying," the Wyverian hunched over and cringed, as though he had come to a sudden realization of something. "I should hurry to report this back to the Guild as soon as possible. Well then, Miss Ferami, that's about all I need to know. Your cooperation with the Guild is…_appreciated_."

The last word spoken by the Wyverian was said after an awkward pause, and Elequinn looked confusedly at the elderly being as she replied, "You're welcome?"

"And before I forget," a smirk appeared on the wizened Wyverian's face, almost as if this was the best piece of news that he had been waiting to deliver to the girl before him. "You no longer have to report in to the Training School. Your application to become a hunter has been disapproved, _permanently_."

His words struck her like an arrow through her heart, and the girl's eyes darted back and forth between her father and the Wyverian. The former simply returned her confused look with a shake of his his head, as if silently telling her not to pursue the matter any further. Naturally, Elequinn was having none of that.

"What the heck is _that_ supposed to mean?!" Her cry echoed a little around the room.

"Exactly what I said," the Wyverian snorted in contempt, "You broke the rules of the training school by moving beyond the allocated training area, and have managed to successfully get three other innocent cadets _killed_ in what was supposed to be a _training mission_. How well do you think you would fare out in the field if we approved you as an official hunter?"

"But that wasn't my-"

"That's enough out of you," the Wyverian cut her off mid-sentence, waving his arm at her and turning to leave. "You had the option to convince your team of the dangers and make them turn back. You knew the risks, and yet you chose to ignore them. Now the three of them paid the ultimate price, and you have to pay yours. Never being able to hunt again is a significantly better option than being dead."

Elequinn bit down hard on her lips, fighting back her urge to cry out at the unfairness of the whole situation. Instead, her teal eyes simply glared at the back of the Wyverian in silence as both he and her father left the room. A few moments later, a creaking of her wardrobe door as it opened reminded Elequinn that there had been an unseen individual listening in on the conversation the entire time.

"Well, that was exciting," Galix popped out of the wardrobe wearing a goofy smile, his hair even messier than before after his short stay in the closet. "It seems that little dog of the Guild enjoyed being a messenger of despair."

"And what are you so happy about?" Tears formed at the sides of Elequinn's downcast eyes as she held the Zamtrios toy in her arms. "You heard him. I can't… I'm not qualified to be a hunter."

"Hey, hey, hold your tears," the tanned male quickly went over and placed a supportive arm on Elequinn's shoulder, using the other to brush aside his fringe to reveal a pair of serious looking icy blue eyes. "He never once said you weren't qualified. As long as you've learnt your lesson and are willing, you can still become a hunter with potential that surpasses your mom's."

Unable to control her emotions any longer, Elequinn threw her arms around Galix, hugging her friend tightly as she struggled to fight back her tears. The man sighed softly before he returned her hug, patting her back slowly in encouragement. Having her lifetime dream effectively crushed however, was simply too much weight for Elequinn to bear.

A moment later, Galix felt the warmth of freshly shed tears against his skin as Elequinn let out the first of many sobs.


	3. Chapter 3

It felt like an eternity for Elequinn before her crying finally ceased and she felt confident enough to let go of Galix. Rubbing her eyes which had turned red from all her weeping, the girl turned to look at her room's window and realized with a start that the rays of the sun were now starting to weaken.

"I'm sorry," she muttered a quick but sincere apology, "I might have gotten carried away."

"Don't worry about it," Galix patted Elequinn's shoulder reassuringly one last time before he stood up. "I know this whole thing is kind of overwhelming, but I'll always be here for you if you need me."

"You're one to talk," Elequinn gave her friend a wry smile. "Especially after you upped and vanished like that on both me and papa."

"It was a necessary evil. I could never have gotten any investigation done by staying here," Galix frowned as he walked towards the door, "and I came back the moment I heard about what happened to you. You can't possibly say I don't care."

"I won't _ever_ forgive you if you do this again," the girl sniffed as she rubbed the last of her tears from her eyes and straightened her body. "Wait, what was that you said about an investigation?"

Opening the door, Galix stuck his head outside the room for a moment. There was no sign of life in sight, and the entire house seemed to be quiet, save for the whirling of the ceiling fan in Elequinn's room. Confident that the coast was clear, the man closed the door behind him and ensured it was shut tight before speaking.

"Have you ever felt like there was something amiss about the entire Hunter's Guild?"

"What do you mean?" The girl blinked in confusion.

"Don't tell me you never noticed the weird way this whole hunting thing actually works, Elly," Galix wagged his finger, "Hunters go out on quests that the Guild sends them on, returning victorious after a kill and claiming a small portion of the monster's parts as a reward for crafting new armor and weapons, as well as a neat sum of Zennies to line their pockets."

"That's the whole idea, isn't it? The guild keeps the remaining parts of the monsters hunted for research, or if they were captured, for entertainment purposes in the arena."

"Then have you never questioned why, with so many hunters around, we have yet to drive _any _of the monsters in existence to extinction?" Galix folded his arms. "Or why more and more subspecies of monsters keep turning up?"

"Well I always assumed it was because they reproduced and adapted to new environments quickly…" Elequinn realized how weak her own argument sounded as soon as she said it.

"_Bullshit_. You know as well as I do that it takes a long time for a small Rathalos chick to reach maturity. And yet each day, countless hunters are dispatched to slaughter members of the Flying Wyverns, but we _never_ seem to run out of quests to hunt them," the man pushed aside his fringe once more, an action that Elequinn had long known was used to signify his seriousness about the situation. "Now I'm no scientific or mathematical genius, but I doubt you have to be one to figure out that the figures don't add up."

It was the first time Elequinn had ever heard anyone speaking of the Hunter's Guild like that. The same organization which had been created with the sole intention of uniting hunters together to protect their homes and loved ones was now being accused by her friend of possessing some dark secret. The girl always had linked the image of the Guild with bravery and justice, but now a small cloud of doubt began to form in her mind as she considered Galix's words.

"If you still need more evidence, then think about how the Guild reacted when I went missing. Hell, think about how the Guild acted when _your mother_ went missing. Just a small report, then no more follow-ups. Just like _this_-" Galix snapped his fingers. "Poof. Another missing hunter added to the catalog, then filed away and never bothered with again. Don't you ever think that they seem _way_ too negligent when it comes to locating missing people?"

"But that's only because they couldn't find any leads to go on," Elequinn tilted her head slightly in thought, "Your case ran cold without any tracks to follow, and mother…they didn't even find her body."

"Maybe they didn't bother with me because they deemed me insignificant, I'll give you that. But your mother was one of the best hunters in the Hunter's Guild, on par with a small handful of high ranking elite hunters. The official statement they gave you might be that they never found her," Galix reached into the jacket that he had slung over his shoulders the entire time as he spoke, "But then how do you explain _this_?"

Elequinn's eyes widened as she saw what her friend took out from the jacket – a piece of headgear that she never thought she would ever see again in her life. It was a simple headband with a blue metallic piece at the front connected to a long white cloth. The cloth was expertly tied into three ribbons, two smaller ones at the side and a larger one at the back, with the remaining fabric left to dangle freely down where the back of the wearer's head was supposed to be. What made the headgear so unique however, was the little note written in black ink on the otherwise white fabric.

"Come home safe, from Elly with love," Elequinn repeated the words written on the cloth shakily as Galix handed the headgear to her. That inscription had been what separated her mother's helmet from several other similar looking ones, aside from the different colors they opted to dye the ribbon in. Looking up at Galix in disbelief, the girl quickly shot a question at him, "Where did you find this?"

"Let's just say I broke a little deeper into the headquarters of the Guild than I thought I would," her friend sighed heavily, "And what I found in there was alarming."

"What else did you find?"

"Armor," Galix replied gravely, "A whole _hall_ full of empty suits of armor on display inside the restricted sections of the Guild. It wasn't just your mother either – there was also the armor of the rest of her team placed into glass displays inside that area. Each of them had their owner's name and the date that they vanished engraved onto a slab of metal. It seemed as though they had all gone missing together while embarking on the same quest."

Elequinn silently contemplated her friend's words as she clutched her mother's helmet tightly. Up till a minute ago, she had had her doubts about Galix's bold claims regarding the Guild. In the face of this particular piece of evidence however, it was difficult for her to come up with any form of excuse defending the Guild.

"A whole hall? What exactly happened during their hunts?"

"That's where I came up empty," Galix let out a disappointed sigh, "I can't be sure about much else, and to know more I'd probably have to hold one of those Wyverians in the Guild hostage or something. But an entire hall full of the armor of hunters who had gone missing? There's definitely something odd going on in there."

The tanned man looked Elequinn in the eye as he continued, "But that's why I'm here. I know your passion for hunting, and how you want to carry on your mother's legacy. And I figured, it wasn't fair for someone like you to continue to look up to an organization that may or may not have been responsible for your family falling apart. Tell me Elly, do you want to come with me?"

Elequinn found herself at a complete loss of words. Silence fell over the room as she stared at her friend, a mixture of emotions and thoughts churning in the girl's mind. The whole situation seemed too surreal – first her encounter with the monster in the tundra, then her dream to be a hunter got shattered into pieces, _and then_ her missing friend turns up bearing news about her mother.

The faint orange sunlight shining softly into her room gave it a peculiarly nostalgic appearance, and Elequinn remembered how her mother used to return around this time of the day, her loud footsteps clinking down the pathway as she approached their house. Back then, the girl would always run out of her room just in time to watch her parents embracing each other. Her family would then have their dinner together, and her mother would talk about her hunt of the day.

It had been something Elequinn had always looked forward to when she was young. When her mother took her out during every few nights to teach her a few tricks on hunting, she had been more than delighted, and took every lesson seriously. And then one day, without warning, the seat her mother occupied in the family was left forever vacant. It broke the girl's heart to see how depressed her father was every night as they sat together, eating their meals in an awkward silence.

But now Galix was offering her a chance to find out the truth behind her mother's disappearance. As Elequinn held the helmet in her hands, a surge of anger rose up within her. Did the Hunter's Guild _really_ orchestrate the downfall of their own hunters?

The very notion sounded preposterous, but the girl felt that there was some truth in her friend's words. At the very least, the hard facts before her didn't lie – Galix _had_ indeed taken a big risk after breaking into the Guild to return to their hometown of Woodsten to visit her, knowing full well that he may have been arrested on sight at any time during this period.

"I-" Catching herself before she accepted her friend's proposal in the spur of the moment, Elequinn looked solemnly at Galix. There were too many factors for her to consider. For starters, she would be selfish to leave her father all alone in their house, particularly now that the girl was the only person remaining in their family that he could turn to. "I don't know. What would we be doing if I come with you?"

"Hunting and travelling. We'd still be hunters, just a different kind. Ones that are unaffiliated with the Guild, if you want to put it that way. But I can see it in your eyes – you're worried about leaving pops alone here, aren't you?" Galix smiled knowingly. "That's the Elly I know, always thinking long and hard before any decisions. And yeah, you're right to think like that. Coming with me would naturally make you an enemy of the Guild, and I guess that's really something you don't want happening."

A pained expression crossed Elequinn's face as she took in what her friend had just said. To go with Galix would mean that she could finally pursue her dream of becoming a hunter. But the price for doing so was steep, and the girl would have to leave everything she held dear behind. It was a difficult choice, and Elequinn found herself torn between the two options presented to her.

"She'll go."

A soft-spoken voice answered for her, and the two friends in the room turned their heads towards the door, which had been silently opened. Standing in the hallway was Elequinn's father, returning her startled look with a disgruntled one of his own.

"As much as I don't like it, she'll go," Sighing, Leonardo Ferami entered the room, taking a seat beside his daughter and looking at her close up. "She was never one to be held down by others. Elly here is a fighter just like her mother, down to her very eyes and personality."

Elequinn's eyes darted quickly between Galix and her father – neither one of them seemed surprised to see the other party. "Y-You knew about Galix?"

"He turned up here a day or two ago, and explained everything to me. I didn't believe him at first, but then he showed me Amanda's helmet. It brought back…a lot of memories. Both good and bad," shaking his head sorrowfully, Elequinn's father continued, "I've been letting him take refuge here since. When he said he'd offer you a choice to leave with him after you woke up, I had a feeling you'd do just that, no matter what I said. So then…go."

Elequinn stared gratefully at her father. Seeing his silvery hair and weary hazel eyes, it made the girl realize she would forever be indebted to this person before her. He had always been making sacrifices for her. Since she was young, he had been the one to take care of her when she was sick. When she was growing up, her father would always drop whatever he was doing to rush to her side whenever she called. If she suffered any injuries, he would be the one to forgo sleep, tending to her wounds no matter how minor. And yet, he never once complained throughout their time together all, even when her mother was gone. Even now, he was still sacrificing himself for her, knowing full well that he would be left alone in the house once she was gone.

Pulling his daughter over into his arms, Leonardo squeezed her tightly between his thin arms. It reminded Elequinn of the hug he had given her on the day her mother went missing – although nothing more was said by her father, the gesture itself contained something beyond what words could convey. Feeling a fresh batch of tears in her eyes, Elequinn returned the embrace.

"Thank you."

* * *

Night had fallen by the time she had gotten ready, and Elequinn gave her backpack a last check to ensure that she had brought enough supplies for her journey. Galix had told her that they were going to perform a few hunts along the way during their trip to a certain village far off the usual routes, and she didn't want to be caught unprepared in case something unexpected happened.

Satisfied that she had brought sufficient food and clothing, the girl stuffed some maps and books detailing the local wilderness into her bag, then paused as she considered the necessity to bring items for recovery. The highly expensive healing potions sold by the Guild was not an option due to their prices, but Elequinn wasn't sure whether bringing a few medicinal herbs would be enough to last them for the entire trip. If either she or Galix got careless and suffered a major injury, applying some herbs to their wounds was hardly going to save them.

There was the matter of armor to consider as well. Elequinn took a look at the armor that she was currently wearing – a light but durable metal alloy acted as her chest plate and covered majority of her upper body, complete with two smaller pieces acting as shoulder plates. Attached to her wrist was the utility belt that she had been wearing during her short stay at the Training School, filled with as many useful items as the girl could think of.

Below her belt was a chainmail skirt, the light armor allowing the girl to maneuver freely whilst still providing ample protection around her lower body. A pair of sturdy greaves were fastened with straps to her legs, and the brown leather shoes she was wearing felt slightly heavier than her usual footwear.

Elequinn couldn't help but feel a tad uncomfortable about how long the equipment she was wearing had spent inside her basement – while she was confident in her father's ability as a blacksmith, time was a test that most armor would have difficulty surmounting, and it has been _far_ too long since she last witnessed him performing his craft. Playing with her long shoulder length hair, the girl decided that she would be better off forging her own armor once she got the chance. Her hands ceased their movements for a moment as she realized what she was doing.

_Ah, I have to tie-_

"You'd have to get a weapon too," Galix spoke from the sofa behind her, interrupting her train of thought. "I dropped my weapon and armor at a pickup point, so I'll be fine once we get out of this city. You might need something to defend yourself with though – I can't possibly be trying to protect your hide the whole time."

"I got that covered," her father emerged from the basement he had been rummaging through before Elequinn could speak, carrying in his arms several pieces of paper and a pair of odd looking gloves. Placing the items onto the porcelain table, he held up one of the gloves and began to brush some dust off them.

Her curiosity piqued, Elequinn walked up to her father, taking a closer look at the objects he had placed onto the table. The papers appeared to be blueprints of some sort, showing multiple concept arts and improvements of a peculiar type of weapon that the girl had neither read nor heard about before. Despite that, the idea behind the weapon seemed impressive, and Elequinn quickly found her eyes wandering over to the gloves.

The gloves themselves were wholly obsidian in color, and were long enough to fit up to her elbows. A circular metallic object seemed to be joined permanently to the wrist area of each one, appearing almost like a bracelet of sorts. They were however, significantly big enough that Elequinn was certain they were not merely accessories or a design choice. A faint shimmer of purple light pulsed from the lines that encircled the objects, hinting that there was more to them than meets the eye. Plating seemingly made from the same material as the bracelet was attached to the knuckle area of the gloves, and it didn't take Elequinn long to understand that this was a weapon made for a very different kind of combat from what she was normally used to.

"How do they look?" Leonardo sounded proud as he watched her daughter observing his creation. "I made them from the last monster Amanda slew in her career. It took me months to finally melt and refashion that creature's horn into these."

He pointed at the metallic objects attached to the wrists of the gloves. As Elequinn reached out and clasped her fingers around them, a sinking feeling similar to what she had felt when she encountered the giant monster in the tundra spread throughout her body. She released the gloves from her trembling hands almost instantly, and realized that her breathing had quickened.

Fear. That had been what she felt when she touched them – Elequinn was now only all too familiar with that sensation. Whatever manner of beast had been slain to make these items, its essence still flowed through the metal, challenging all who dares try and wield its power. Turning to her father with puzzled eyes, the girl found him smiling forlornly.

"Terrifying, isn't it? The power that this monster had, and still your mother took it down without backing off," her father stroked the gloves gently, his fingers twitching from the frightening sensations that assaulted them. "Beasts like these possess abilities strong enough that their spirit lingers on even after death. To wield them, you'd have to prove you are worthy. I'm positive Amanda would have been able to use these without any issues."

"That just looks like a pair of normal gloves to me," Galix had gotten up from his sofa, and finally decided to speak up after watching the two of them for some time. "Let me try them on."

No sooner did he hold the pair of gloves up into the air did his hands begin to spasm uncontrollably, causing the hunter to involuntarily release them with a gasp of surprise. They fell to the ground with a dull _thud_, leaving Galix completely dumbfounded as he rubbed his hands.

"Young rascal, not everything is as simple as it looks," Leonardo let out a soft and teasing laugh, "Just because you do not know true fear just yet doesn't mean you won't in the future. Only when you can stand up against them can you hope to properly hold these pair of weapons I created."

The pair of gloves looked harmless as they laid on the concrete ground, and Elequinn eyed them silently as she mulled over what her father had said. If she could prove herself worthy, then she should be able to wield them without any difficulties.

_Fear._

A sudden realization struck the girl – perhaps the problem was inside of her all along.

Closing her eyes, Elequinn imagined herself atop a snowy mountain, facing the beast that had devoured her comrades once more. This time however, she wouldn't cry anymore. She would find a way to fight back, and she would win. A fierce fire burned from within her chest. No longer will she be held in place by fear of the creature, shivering in terror.

_A hunter is the perfect machine. The machine that knows not fear._

It would take more than a single monster to hold her back. She may have run away the first time, but the next time she encountered the beast, she would try again. Even if she failed once more, the girl would continue to fight, hounding after the beast as though she were the predator and it was the prey. Because to give up on the mission would be to truly abandon her fallen comrades.

Opening her eyes, Elequinn felt a refreshing feeling flowing through her body. It was almost as if a heavy weight had been lifted off her. Her path was now clear – and nothing was going to stop her. Reaching out to the gloves, Elequinn clutched them tightly in her palms. There was a little resistance as she lifted them from the floor, but the fear she had felt earlier seemed to have dissipated. No – the fear was still there, but the girl was now using it to fuel herself.

"Well done."

Her father seemed both joyful and sad as he watched Elequinn put on the gloves, and the girl knew how hard the entire situation was on him. He was, after all, getting ready to say goodbye to the last remaining member of his family.

"I won't let you down, papa," Elequinn spoke as she tugged at the gloves and ensured they fit snugly onto her hands. Oddly enough, they seemed to feel lighter once worn. "I promise, once I get to the bottom of this whole thing, I'll come back and we can have dinner together again."

"Just like Amanda," Leonardo gave his daughter a warm smile, heading towards the front door and causing it to creak softly as he opened it. "I know you'll keep your word."

"See you around, pops," Galix made his way out first, his jacket still draped over his shoulders. "Stay safe now."

"Don't worry about me. I may be retired but the Guild is still liable to compensate me every month for the service I provided them with in my prime. Worse comes to worst, I'll just say you kidnapped my daughter and put a bounty on your head or something," Elequinn's father smiled at his own joke before continuing in a whisper, "You take good care of her."

Galix gave a firm nod before he headed out of the house. Turning to his daughter, Leonardo noticed that she was taking her time walking towards the door. It wasn't surprising though – this house was where the girl had spent the vast majority of the past eighteen years of her life in. For her to have to suddenly leave it behind was a difficult task.

As Elequinn slid her hands over the sofa Galix had been seating on, she couldn't help but feel melancholic. Many of her happiest memories have been made under the roof of this particular place, and now she was bidding everything goodbye. She would miss it all – the looks, the smells and the sounds of home. But what she would miss most of all was the figure standing at the door waiting to bid her good bye.

"Come on now, we haven't got all night, and the Guild might send in a patrol over here for all you know," Leonardo beckoned his daughter over as he placed the blueprints of his weapon and a long slim package into the bag she had prepared. "Ah, you haven't even done your hair yet."

Now that her father reminded her of it, Elequinn became aware that her hair had not been tied up since the time Galix had arrived in her room. She normally looked like a complete mess whenever it wasn't tied into her usual ponytail, which was why tying her hair was usually the first thing she did when she woke up. The events of the entire day had been extremely overwhelming however, and even though she had remembered it earlier, it had quickly slipped her mind.

As she looked around for her hairband, Leonardo walked up to his daughter, gripping his wife's helmet tightly in his hands. Then, wordlessly, he placed the headgear into her hands. The girl looked at her father in puzzlement for a moment, but quickly understood what he meant by that action.

"Papa…"

The cool night breeze that blew in from the open front door caused the long white ribbons to sway gently, and Elequinn felt a serene sensation wash over her body as she put the helmet onto her head. Perhaps, similar to the gloves that her father had fashioned, her mother's helmet too contained her benevolent spirit inside of it. With that cheerful thought in her mind, the girl used the cloth from the headgear to tie her hair up into her signature wild ponytail. With the biggest ribbon holding her hair up and the rest of the fabric dangling just above her knees, Elequinn took a deep breath as she took her bag from her father.

"Come home safe."

No more words needed to be exchanged between the two, and Elequinn smiled resolutely as she stepped towards the door. Turning back, the girl saw her father returning her smile, even as a single teardrop made its way down his face. Lifting her hands to her face and making the gesture of a smile, Elequinn waved goodbye one last time before she made her way towards Galix, who had prepared a Gargwa cart for the two of them.

"Like mother, like daughter."

Leonardo Ferami watched with a poignant expression as his daughter hopped onto the cart with her friend, holding on tightly as the domesticated bird made fast strides down the road. The whiteness of Elequinn's shirt and the color of her aquamarine hair gradually faded away into the distance, and her father closed the door with a bittersweet feeling in his heart.

He had not cried in a very long time, not since he had finished mourning over the loss of his beloved wife. But as he leaned against the wooden frame of the door, the elderly man couldn't help but feel sad that for the first time in his life, he was well and truly alone. Several tears streaked down his aged face, and he lifted a weak hand to rub them off.

And yet somewhere deep in his heart, he knew Elequinn would return. And just like it had been in the past with her mother, Leonardo knew that he would be here, standing at the door and opening his arms to her as he welcomed his daughter home.

"Make us proud, Elly."


	4. Chapter 4

Under the starlit night sky, the cart that Elequinn was riding moved silently down the concrete pathways of Woodsten, pulled along by a single chubby Gargwa. Every now and then Galix would tug on the reins attached to the herbivore's mouth when it strayed too close to the streetlamps lining the route, causing it to turn ever so slightly and stay in the darkness.

Lying on her back in the cart with her hands behind her head, Elequinn quietly stared at the buildings that they were moving past. There was no sign of movement inside any of them, but it was not unexpected given how late into the night it was. As she looked at the small trees that were sparsely planted around the road in between every few structures, the girl couldn't help but feel a tad nostalgic.

She remembered her mother often telling her the history of their town when she was still a child. According to her, Woodsten used to be filled to the _brim_ with greenery and the giant buildings of brick and cement had not yet been constructed. Instead, there were huge trees of oak and yew in their place. Occasionally, small monsters would pop out from the forested areas, and the adults would hurriedly round up the children into their houses as they cried to the Guild for help. Any hunters nearby would then hurry to the scene, easily dispatching of the creatures and gaining the admiration of those they had saved.

Many of these hunters were simply passing by Woodsten on their way towards some other destination, and very rarely did they ever decide to continue staying in the town for longer than a few days. Even in the case where the hunters _did_ decide to stay, it was mostly because the travelling merchants that had hired them for protection wanted to do business. Thankfully, Elequinn's parents were amongst the few that decided to make the then small town their home, and it was here that she had been conceived.

Despite the miniscule amount of hunters that were actually dedicated to protecting Woodsten however, thanks to the large number of passing hunters and merchants, the town was always well protected from harm by giant Wyverns. Gradually, they began to prosper, catching the attention of the Hunter's Guild situated in Dundorma.

The setting up of an actual Hunter's Gathering Hall in Woodsten finally provided a reason for many hunters to call the town their home, and as the population of the town increased, so too did it begin to expand at a rapid pace. Elequinn was still only a child at this point, but she grew up witnessing the transformation of Woodsten into a more modern town as many a tree were felled by the Guild, only to be replaced by buildings constructed for the purpose of housing and business.

In Elequinn's eyes, everything the Guild had done to this town thus far had only helped improve the lives of the inhabitants. They had dispatched hunters to protect Woodsten at all times against any monsters that dared roam near, and the trees they had fell were to make trade routes safer for the merchants.

It was therefore still hard for the girl to swallow the fact that she was now willingly pitting herself against the Guild. As she stared at the silhouette of the Guild Hall in the distance, Elequinn couldn't help but wonder if she had indeed made the right choice. Despite feeling a momentary burst of anger back in her house earlier, her profound respect for the Guild was still difficult to remove. It was, after all, an important part of her childhood.

"Hey, Galix," the girl turned to look at her friend, who had been sitting at the front of the cart with his legs crossed the entire time, "you really think that we're doing the right thing?"

"To be honest, I don't know. It's no big secret to you that I never really liked the Guild," Galix folded his arms, "but I grew up in this town too, and I've seen what they've done for us. And as much as I dislike them, I can't deny that they have really helped us out a lot."

Elequinn nodded, feeling relieved that Galix felt the same as her. In her mind, she felt that perhaps there was some logical explanation to the entire thing that both of them were missing, and they were simply unable to see the whole picture.

"Yet there are always skeletons in the closets," a dark expression crossed Galix's face as he spoke, "we just have to dig deep enough. But that's why we're travelling, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Elequinn replied determinedly as she sat up, feeling her helmet's two long ribbons fluttering against her skin in the cold night air. "To find out the truth."

* * *

No other words were exchanged between the two as they slowly made their way out to the outskirts of Woodsten. The strong concrete buildings that surrounded both sides of the route gradually became replaced by more rundown structures, along with a few that were clearly in the middle of construction.

The dust and shrubbery in the area was now a lot more noticeable, and Elequinn cast a quick look at Galix. The tanned man was looking straight ahead, his blue eyes hidden as usual underneath the messy fringe of his hair. Every now and them, he would glance at a signpost they passed, as if checking for something. The girl's question was answered without her even asking – her friend was definitely searching for a specific house to stop at.

Now that she thought about it, Elequinn recalled that Galix had mentioned something about a pickup point for his equipment. Her brows furrowed as the girl looked at her surroundings – surely he didn't simply drop all of his gear in such an environment where it would be easily taken away?

The cart jerked to a halt as Galix tugged on the reins of the Gargwa pulling it, causing the fat creature to let out a squawk in protest. Hopping off, the man signaled for Elequinn to follow him before heading towards a path next to a dilapidated building. Despite the bright crescent moon shining above them, the trees in the path had a thick enough foliage to block out its glow, causing the house and its surrounding area to be cast into an inky darkness.

Grabbing her bag and following her friend, Elequinn squinted her eyes as she barely made out Galix walking at a slow and careful pace in front of her. As if the trail was already not creepy enough, every now and then a tree branch seemed to reach out towards the girl like a hungry demon's hands, scraping against her skin and causing her to flinch.

Gradually, she noticed a tiny yellow light pulsating in the darkness ahead of them. The irregular movement it made seemed to be beckoning her towards it, and the girl heard her friend let out a sigh of relief. Whatever the light was, it was evidently what Galix had been looking for. With renewed vigor, the two friends pushed ahead, fighting off the flora that threatened every now and then to give them an unpleasant slap on their bodies.

Moving closer to the light source, Elequinn started to realize that it may not have been as tiny as she had initially thought. As they advanced towards it, the pathway slowly opened up to a small clearing, and the girl couldn't help but let out a gasp of wonder as she finally saw what the origin of the light was.

Their yellow beacon was in reality an insect that resembled a firefly, only it was nearly as large as her entire hand itself. The creature's abdomen glowed brightly like an act of defiance against the darkness around it, and it possessed a luminous red thorax that complemented the light shining behind it well.

Elequinn noticed that its two black eyes seemed to shine with an eerie intelligence, from the way it cocked its head left and right as it observed them. Directly underneath the bug was an assortment of equipment that the girl quickly recognized as pieces crafted from Rathalos parts – the red scales and black talons were items that she often recalled her father working with.

"Thanks for the help, John," Galix let out a hearty laugh as he bent down to pick up the equipment, brushing the dust off the pieces as he held them up to the light the insect was emitting check for any damage. "No one came by, I'm sure?"

"It has a name?" Elequinn stared blankly at her friend as he continued to inspect the pile of armor, carefully scrutinizing each piece before placing it aside. It may have just been her seeing things, but the girl felt sure for a moment that the firefly had replied to Galix by flying abruptly to its left and right.

"Yeah, Aria named every single one of them, that crazy girl. You'll meet her later, since she'll be waiting for us at our destination," her friend gave a casual reply as he moved on to the suitcase, opening it to reveal a bow whose four blue limbs seemed to gently reflect the light emanating from the insect above it. "_Hello beautiful_, how've you been?"

Taking the weapon and its quiver out from its casing, Galix held the bow firmly in his arms as he nocked an arrow, pointing it towards the sky. There was a soft, almost melodic sound as he tugged on the string, and a short moment later the arrow flew through the air with a _whoosh_, embedding itself into the trunk of one of the trees nearby.

"Not bad," Elequinn commented as her eyes gazed curiously at the weapon that Galix was holding, "could I have a look?"

"Yeah, sure," her friend passed the bow over to her before making his way towards the tree to reclaim his arrow. "Don't touch the limbs though. They cut."

Utilizing the light radiating from the insect beside her, Elequinn stared in awe at the weapon in her hands. Galix's bow contained four limbs, each one colored a mixture of black and blue. What drew the girl's attention however, was how seemingly razor sharp each one of those limbs were – there was a portion of silver barely visible around their outer edge. The tip of the limbs were no exception to this peculiar quality as well, appearing sharp enough that Elequinn was positive they could be used to pierce objects.

It was a marvelous work of craftsmanship, and Elequinn couldn't help but admire the weapon. She did however quickly identify a flaw – there didn't seem to be a folding mechanism for the bow itself. The girl attributed this to the fact that the weapon would probably slice the fingers of its users clean off if it could be folded into two like other common weapons of its type.

_If he can't fold it…won't he need to carry the case around with him all the time?_

Elequinn found her eyes shifting to the suitcase at her feet. It was a dull brown in color, appearing almost inconspicuous if not for its bulky size that measured up to almost three quarters of her height. There was a special compartment inside it clearly meant for the bow's quiver, and the girl quickly realized that the case was specially created to accommodate the weapon.

"What do you think?" Galix emerged from the trees, clutching the arrow that he had fired off earlier in his hands. The insect that had been hovering beside Elequinn the entire time drifted towards the man as he approached. "Real work of art, eh?"

"Yeah, very impressive, but…" The girl frowned as she returned the weapon to her friend. From her short examination of the weapon, Elequinn could easily imagine what the bow was capable of aside from merely shooting arrows. "Just for curiosity's sake, who created it?"

"Eh, some blacksmith who called himself Mideus," Galix smiled as he reclaimed the weapon, placing it carefully into its casing and then closing it tight, causing a soft _click_ to sound. "I chanced upon him about a week after I left, and it turns out we were both headed the same way, so I figured I might as well travel with him for a bit. He just plopped this at my feet one day and asked if I believed in 'the arm of Destiny' or something."

"Mideus?"

A perplexed look appeared in her teal eyes as Elequinn tried to remember where she had heard the name before. Something about the name sent chills up the girl's spine, and she was certain that whoever he was, Mideus wasn't someone she would be glad to meet. Try as she might however, she simply couldn't recall anything else about the name aside from the ominous feeling it gave her.

"That was his name, yeah. Really odd guy," Galix continued speaking as he started to put on the armor he had inspected earlier, wearing them over his clothes, "wore some crazy long robe with a hood that hid his face. Seems to really dislike sunlight too, since he insisted if I wanted to accompany him, we'd have to travel under the dark of night."

"And _nothing_ about that guy struck you as suspicious?"

"Eh, I kept an eye out during our travels in case he tried anything funny, but the most he ever did was give me this," Galix made a quick gesture at his bow's casing with his head as he put the rest of his armor on, strapping the parts on to himself tightly. "And boy, does it pack a _punch_. I took it out for a trial and ended up having to singlehandedly take on a Rathalos that thought I was invading his personal space. Not that I didn't end up being bedridden and having to apply salves and potions onto my whole body for the next couple of days…"

Galix's voice trailed off at the last part into a soft mumble, and Elequinn shook her head in disbelief. Her childhood friend had just practically admitted that he had danced with death in a nonchalant tone, and it made her wonder exactly what other things he had done whilst he was off the grid.

"But hey, it was worth it in the end," Galix puffed his chest out proudly and pointed at the armor he was wearing with his thumb, "Mideus made this armor to commemorate me actually even returning alive. And I could probably have made the gunner set too, but unfortunately I had to pay those Felynes half of the monster's materials just to get them to cart me and the Rathalos back to where the blacksmith was."

"So that bow is powerful enough to make you not even one bit afraid of that Rathalos when you were taking it on, huh?"

"Of course not," Galix let out a nervous laugh as he finished putting on the last of his armor, which was oddly enough missing a helmet. "I was scared shitless. But I wasn't about to just roll over and offer myself up as lunch to a Wyvern."

Picking up his weapon case and turning towards the path that they had taken to enter the area, Galix looked at his friend past his shoulder, flicking just enough of his fringe to the side to reveal his piercing blue eyes. "Besides, how else am I going to keep my promise to your parents if I had died there and then?"

Elequinn found herself blushing inadvertently. Her friend's words had evoked a memory of a time long ago, when a young Galix had felt so indebted to the girl and her family that he had vowed to protect all of them from harm. Her parents had simply laughed then, teasing the boy and telling him that if he truly wanted to repay them, he should do his best to protect Elequinn and Elequinn alone.

Naturally, the hot-blooded youth had promised them that he would do just that. They had thought then that he had simply said things in the spur of the moment – but now, the girl realized that it seemed extremely likely that Galix would make good his words.

"I can't believe he still remembers that," Elequinn muttered to herself, then blinked as she realized that Galix had already moved out and was now a few meters ahead of her. The insect had tagged along with her friend as well, and the glowing light he emitted gradually got dimmer as the pair walked further away.

Not wanting to be left behind, the girl shook her head to clear it, then hurriedly chased after the fading yellow light in the distance.

* * *

The path back to their cart was significantly faster now that they had the light of the firefly guiding their way, and Elequinn found herself easily avoiding all the branches that gave her a difficult time earlier. In the distance, she could make out the outline of the house that marked the entrance of the path. Now that she had no cause to worry about the surrounding trees, the girl found herself thinking about the blacksmith Galix had mentioned.

_Mideus…was it papa who had told me about him?_

A shrill cry interrupted her thoughts, and Elequinn snapped back to reality instantly as her movements froze. Galix too had stopped moving, and the girl looked at her friend in confusion as the latter brought his index finger to his lips – the gesture for silence. Even the firefly that had been shining so brightly beside them had suddenly dimmed the light that he was producing and had perched himself obediently onto Galix's arm.

For a moment, no sound was heard other than the night time wind gently rustling the leaves behind the two friends. Then another cry rang out from in front of them, this time followed by the distinct sound of multiple males laughing. There was no mistaking it – the sound had come from the Gargwa that had been pulling their cart.

"_Follow,_" Galix's voice came out as a soft hiss, a completely different tone from the one that Elequinn was used to, "_slowly_."

Taking the lead, the man cautiously stepped forward, taking extra effort to make as little noise as possible. Elequinn followed her friend with slow and deliberate movements, although her breathing was already beginning to quicken from a combination of excitement and nervousness. Moving up to the decrepit building, the two placed their backs against its wall.

Taking a quick peek around the edge, Galix let out a hiss of irritation. Three figures holding lanterns were surrounding their cart, taking turns kicking the Gargwa in its chest and then laughing at its comical reaction to their abuse. In any other circumstance, Galix knew he would have charged in and taught the punks a few lessons about mistreating monsters. Unfortunately, even from a distance, the man easily recognized the silhouette of the Guild Knight armor, the curved hat and feather being a dead giveaway.

"Guild patrol," Galix answered Elequinn before the latter even spoke, knowing that she would want to know what he had seen. "Three of them."

"What are _they_ doing here?" Elequinn found herself biting down on her lips. She had hoped to avoid confrontation with the Guild as much as possible after leaving with her friend, but it seemed as though fate had another plan in mind for her.

"I guess they upped the security in towns after what happened at their headquarters," Galix exhaled in annoyance, "they would probably know my face too. A few witnesses saw me as I ran the hell out of Dundorma."

"Well then, what do we do?" The girl touched the headgear she was wearing, feeling the coldness of the azure colored metal piece on her head and the gentle brushing of the fabric against her skin. After all that Galix had done to get her mother's helmet back to her, she wasn't about to just give it back to the Guild willingly.

"If no one shows up to claim ownership of the cart, they'd probably just bring it back to the Guild. And I can't be the one to confront them so it's probably all up to you, Elly," her friend frowned, "You feeling good enough to talk your way out of this?"

Elequinn gulped audibly.

"I'll try."

Taking a deep breath to compose herself, the girl made her way out of the darkness and towards the Guild knights who were still entertaining themselves with torturing the poor Gargwa in front of them. Clearing her throat to get their attention, Elequinn shuffled up meekly to the patrol, catching a whiff of alcohol in the air as she approached and wrinkling her nose.

"Oi, you the owner of this thing?" One of the Guild Knights spoke up first as he saw Elequinn, holding up his lantern with one arm and taking a swig from the bottle he held with his other.

As she nodded, the two other Guild Knights gave each other a puzzled glance before moving to surround her, each one holding up their own lanterns to take a better look at the girl. For a moment, Elequinn felt worried that they would recognize the helmet that she was wearing. Her doubts were unwarranted however, for a split moment later she remembered that there were plenty of other similar looking helmets being worn by hunters around Minegarde.

"So what's a pretty lil' thing like you doing out at _this_ unholy hour?" The other Guild Knight spoke from beside her, and Elequinn winced as she felt some spittle makes it way from his lips onto her face.

"Night walk," the girl muttered the first thing that came to her mind, "I'm taking my weekly night walk around the town."

"So close to the outskirts of town? I don't think so," the Knight standing behind her moved up all of a sudden, his fleshy hands reaching out and grabbing Elequinn's backpack off her shoulders. Encouraged by the jeering laughter from the two other knights, he promptly opened up the bag to reveal its contents. "What's this? Rations, herbs and _clothing_ too? This doesn't look like something you'd bring out for a walk. And what the hell is _this_ junk?"

The blueprints that her father had placed into her bag were yanked out without regard, and the Knight squinted his eyes as he tried to make sense of what he was looking at. After a moment however, he simply shrugged and tossed the papers onto the ground.

"Hey, that's mine! Don't do that!"

Elequinn didn't bother to hide the disgust in her voice any longer. The men before her were supposed to represent the face of the Guild, and yet the way they were acting was downright repulsive. As she reached out to retrieve the blueprints however, the other two Knights moved quickly behind her, kicking her in the back of her knees. Collapsing onto the floor, the girl gritted her teeth as she glared at the knights around her.

"I don't think so, girl," the Knight holding Elequinn's bag let out a chuckle, "You're acting real damn suspicious, if I have to say so myself. I do believe we'd have to haul you back for some…_interrogation_."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then I'll have to consider that as an act of resistance," the Knight twisted his body slightly and hinted at the Guild Knight Sabers that were on his back, "and let's face it, I don't think you stand much of a chance seeing as you are outnumbered _and_ unarmed."

From the light of their lanterns, the girl saw that the other two Knights also had weapons on their back – light bowguns that had the imprint of the Guild on their frames.

At this point, something seemed to snap inside of Elequinn. The events of the day, from her being forbidden to be a hunter to now downright being bullied by what was supposed to be representatives of the Guild itself, was _far_ too much to hold in. She had kept quiet throughout the injustice of it all, but now she decided that silence was no longer an option.

Picking herself up, the girl looked at the blueprints that were scattered around her feet. They may not have meant anything to the Knight, but to Elequinn, they were almost like her parents' legacy. Each piece not only had detailed instructions on how to improve upon the design of the gloves she was wearing, but more importantly, how to _use_ them in combat.

"Outnumbered, maybe," Elequinn clenched her fists tight, the metallic bracelets attached to her gloves emitting a soft purple glow in response. She no longer considered the trio around her as men, but rather barbarians that deserved no right to call themselves Guild Knights. "But unarmed? I think not."

Mustering as much strength in her legs as she could, Elequinn leapt forward, thrusting her fist towards the male in front of her. Her sudden movement came as too much of a surprise for any of the three surrounding the girl to react to in time, and the two Knights behind her could only watch in shock as their ally took a direct hit from the seemingly harmless girl.

She initially felt some resistance as her fist pummeled into the man's chest, easily shredding through his fabric armor and making contact with the metal plating he wore underneath. Perhaps due to his state of inebriation however, what resistance there was quickly crumbled away into nothingness as the Knight staggered backwards in shock, letting out a sputter of incoherent words before collapsing onto the ground.

Oddly enough, Elequinn felt no pain despite her arms making contact with the man's armor. As she flexed her fingers, the girl looked with fascinated eyes at the gloves she was wearing – the metallic plating on her knuckles were clearly capable of penetrating things harder than steel.

A soft _click_ behind her reminded her of the fact that there were still two more Knights to handle, and Elequinn turned around to find their bowguns already aimed at her. Without any way to attack from a distance, she let out a sign as she held both her hands into the air, keeping an eye out for any movements in the shadows behind the two Knights.

Although they were the ones that had the advantage of ranged weaponry, the Knights were clearly shaken up over how quickly their leader had fallen. One of them took small but steady steps backwards, increasing the distance between them. After witnessing what happened to his leader, he had quickly arrived at a conclusion that he should put as much distance as possible between Elequinn and himself.

It was a good theory, but Elequinn knew something that he did not: someone else was waiting for him in the shadows. A pulsating yellow light in the darkness confirmed her gut feeling, and the girl couldn't help but break into a smile as she pointed behind them. "Hey, look. A firefly."

"Very funny. Now get _down_ on your knees or we _will_ shoo-"

A beacon of yellow light shot towards the Knight before he could finish his sentence, causing him to let out a cry of surprise from the unexpected blow on his head. Turning around rapidly, he blinked in confusion at the sight of the huge firefly before him, its glowing abdomen flashing aggressively.

A moment later, a resonating _thud_ sounded as the Knight's eyes rolled back into his head, his body crumpling onto the floor like a broken marionette. Holding his weapon case tightly in his arms, Galix stepped over the body of the man he had attacked with a smug grin before turning to the last remaining member of the Guild patrol in front of him.

Letting out a yelp of alarm, the final Guild Knight turned to his new assailant and pulled the trigger of his bowgun multiple times. The unexpected reaction caused Galix to curse loudly as he evaded away from the line of fire, sheltering his vulnerable head. A few projectiles created sparks as they bounced harmlessly off his Rathalos armor, the scales and metal plating it was crafted out of proving its worth.

When he recovered from his roll however, the man felt his left leg quickly turning numb. A glance at his feet caused him to let out a groan – one of the bullets had successfully managed to penetrate his greaves, and had buried itself into the flesh underneath.

"_Damn_ _it_."

From the way he was quickly losing all feeling and strength in his left thigh, Galix was sure that the projectile was laced with some sort of paralyzing agent. Grabbing on to his weapon case and using it as a makeshift crutch, the man scrambled to his feet as fast as he could, barely dodging out of the way as another volley of shots flew at his general direction.

Sensing that the Guild Knight had all but forgotten about her presence, Elequinn took the opportunity to rush forward, clasping her hands together as she prepared to attack. Now that she could roughly gauge the strength of her knuckle-type weapon, the girl knew that she could easily overpower the trigger-happy Knight with one hit.

Hearing the sound of footsteps approaching him fast, the Knight whirled around just in time to see Elequinn a few feet away from him. A smile bordering on mania appeared on his face as he raised his bowgun and pulled the trigger, knowing full well that a shot at this range would be a guaranteed hit.

_Click._

The smile vanished from the Knight's face as he looked down at his bowgun and confirmed the worst – the clip was empty.

The next moment, he saw the world turn upside down as a searing pain spread throughout his face, and a dull ringing in his ears blocked out all other sounds of the night. For an instant, the Knight felt as though he was weightless as he sailed through the air. Then something hard and solid thumped against his back, and he realized that he was now looking up at his attacker from the ground.

Glowering at the pathetic excuse of a Guild Knight on the floor, Elequinn considered for a moment whether she had hit him too hard. She had deliberately held back since she knew that her fists would make contact with flesh instead of armor this time, but the results still astonished her. The Knight's terrified eyes and quivering body told the girl that he had learned his lesson, and she quickly turned to where her friend was last seen.

She let out a sigh of relief as she saw her firefly companion scoot off towards a figure in the darkness. However, Elequinn's smile quickly faded away as she realized that Galix was limping.

Taking quick strides towards her friend, the girl offered her assistance to him, and the two made their way slowly back to the cart. The Gargwa that had been abused by the men earlier was still waiting obediently for them, although it was now sitting on the head of the unconscious Guild Knight leader in an obvious act of revenge.

"How bad is it?" Elequinn looked worriedly at Galix as she helped him onto the cart, placing his weapon case beside him.

"I'll live," her friend nodded solemnly before breaking out into a tense smile, "you did well there, Elly. I was going to move in after seeing what that bastard did with your bag, but it seems like you can easily handle your own problems."

"Thanks," the girl accepted the complement sheepishly, then blinked as her friend's words reminded her of the blueprints that were still scattered around the floor. "Ah, _crap_. Lend me John for a moment, won't you?"

The firefly seemed to understand what was required of him, and instantly flew over to Elequinn's side even before Galix replied.

"Huh, I think he likes you," the man sounded impressed that the insect had flew over to his friend of his own accord, "though I'm pretty sure Aria gave specific instructions for him to only answer to me…"

Shrugging, Elequinn hopped off the cart with John on her arm, using the light the insect produced to locate and pick up the papers on the ground. A dismal groan escaped her lips as she saw that some of the blueprints had been torn and were now barely legible. She had been hoping to read them all at a later date – now the girl feared that she might never be able to read them at all.

Picking up her bag that had been lying beside the fallen leader of the Guild Knight the entire time, the girl placed the papers she was holding carefully into them, then hopped on to the cart.

"Men like them are a disgrace to the name of the Guild," letting out a depressed sigh, Elequinn double checked the content of her bag once more, ensuring that nothing else had dropped out during their skirmish. "I don't know how they even passed the qualification tests to become Knights."

"And how do you know they are not all like that?" Galix grinned playfully before gently tugging on the reins of the Gargwa, causing it to get off the man it had been sitting on and start pulling the cart down the road once more.

"I can't."

Elequinn replied to her friend earnestly as they started moving again, leaving the three Guild Knights behind them. Her eyes focused on the grand Guild Hall that was rapidly shrinking away into the distance – in the morning, the girl knew it would be bustling with activity once again, as it always had been since it was built.

"I can only hope."


	5. Chapter 5

Opening her eyes to the gentle warmth of the early morning sun, Elequinn rubbed her eyes sleepily as she looked around the area. The cart she had been riding had stopped in the middle of a grass field. The uncut vegetation had grown to be much taller than her even when she was standing up, and their slow swaying in the wind made the area appear quite soothing.

Further ahead, she could see a forest of trees, their canopies easily towering over the grass around her. Aside from the chirping of birds who had woken up early, there was also the soft sound of flowing water in the distance, hinting to the girl that there was a river of some sort close by.

Lying next to her on the cart was Galix, his arms folded as he slept silently. Although he appeared perfectly fine, one look at his leg quickly told Elequinn otherwise. Her friend had taken off the armor on his legs the night before, and had forcefully removed the bullet that had managed to embed itself slightly into his shin. Although he had insisted that he was fine, the way Galix's leg seemed to be swelling up told Elequinn a different story.

"Pretty sure I have some herbs in there somewhere."

Opening her backpack, the girl blinked in surprise as something black and reddish in color flew out of it. It took her a moment to register that the blur was in fact the insect that had been with them all the way since Galix retrieved his armor.

"Oh. Hello, John."

It still felt weird to her to be addressing a bug with an actual human name, but Elequinn was quickly learning to shrug it off. The insect's wings buzzed softly in response, perching itself onto her right shoulder and then turning motionless. Evidently, it was feeling drowsy from having its sleep disturbed.

As she rummaged through her bag, a conspicuous package lying at the bottom caught Elequinn's attention. Pulling it out, the girl frowned as she looked at the innocuous looking item. She had no memory of packing anything resembling it into her bag, so it had definitely been put there by someone else.

Opening it slowly, Elequinn blinked in surprise at the contents. Lying in the middle of the long and slim box was a single, brand new carving knife, held tightly in place by the packaging foam around it. The blade itself was kept inside a scabbard, its color a light brown. A tiny note was attached to the handle, and the girl easily pulled it off to give it a read, cracking a smile as she recognized her father's handwriting.

'_You forgot this, Elly. Go get them!'_

Raising one of her eyebrows in bewilderment, Elequinn looked down at her utility belt that she had been wearing the entire time. True enough, the slot meant for the carving knife was empty. Perhaps in her haste to pack everything and ensure that she was fully prepared for any scenario, she had forgotten the bare necessities for a hunter.

"Papa, you idiot."

Drawing it out carefully, Elequinn gave the carving knife a closer look. It hardly appeared special at all, with a plain gray handle and a silver blade that shined softly in the daylight. The edge itself was sharp, as it should be given its purpose. But it was what the item itself symbolized that was the most important.

Replacing the blade back into its scabbard, the girl tucked it into its rightful spot on her belt. She may not be a huntress that was officially registered with the Guild, but she was still a huntress at heart.

A soft groan from her friend reminded Elequinn that she still needed to locate the herbs she had stuffed into her bag, and the girl turned her attention back to her bag.

"Morning," the rough tone of Galix's voice as he greeted her told Elequinn that her friend had not slept well. The male brushed aside his fringe as he noticed the condition of his left leg, a look of worry quickly settling in on his face. "Oh boy, this doesn't look good."

"No, it really doesn't. I don't think there's any medical facilities nearby too," Elequinn replied in a concerned tone, her eyes lighting up as she finally found the green medical herbs in her bag, "how long did you say it'd take for us to reach our destination again?"

"About a week if we took the standard route, but I kind of decided against that last night. We'll be cutting through the woods instead. It should save us a significant amount of time," Galix winced as he watched his friend mash the herbs she had taken out into a green colored paste, smearing them carefully onto his swollen leg. "Argh, that thing never fails to look _disgusting_."

"Wait till you end up having to ingest them to treat internal injuries," Elequinn shook her head while applying the final touches, covering Galix's wound with as much of the paste as possible. "You were lucky those bullets didn't hit your head or something."

"At least my armor held up decently," the man pounded the plating on his chest proudly, "sure makes me glad I asked Mideus to make me the blademaster variant of the armor instead of the gunner one."

_Mideus._

A memory of her father telling her a story on her bed flashed before Elequinn's eyes, and the girl looked at her friend in alarm as she finally recalled the origin of the name.

"_Now_ I remember why that name sounded so familiar!" The sudden increase of volume in her voice caused John to snap awake, darting off her shoulders and relocating himself on top of the sleeping Gargwa at the front of the cart. "Papa used to tell me stories about him all the time."

"Uh, is he like a relative of yours or something?"

"No, you _dummy_. Mideus, the cursed blacksmith. Ring a bell?" Seeing the confused expression on her friend's face, Elequinn continued, "They say that he travels around all of Minegarde, creating powerful equipment for those who desire them. But those who use the weapons and the armor he forges will face an untimely death."

"So what you're saying…is that my equipment is cursed," Galix stared at his friend with a blank face for a moment, then promptly burst out into a loud laughter. "Elly, you know I don't believe in fairy tales."

"It's not a laughing matter," Elequinn pouted as her friend made it evident that he wasn't taking her seriously, "what happened to your leg might just be the beginning of a chain of events that will lead up to something absolutely devastating and in the end claim your life, possibly in the most horrible way-"

"Whoa there Elly, easy on the overthinking," interrupting the girl who was now beginning to gesticulate wildly, Galix gently patted his weapon casing that was beside him. "I've been using this bow for quite some time, and I seemed to have lived through everything this 'curse' you speak of have thrown at me. If it really wanted to end my life, don't you think it'd have done so by now?"

"_Argh, _why won't you just listen? Prevention is better than cure, and those equipment are going to get you killed sooner or later."

"And what doesn't kill me only makes me stronger. I've survived this far, and I'll live on through whatever crap may come my way," the man replied with firm conviction, "and besides, we're in the middle of the wilderness right now. What do you expect me to do – dump all my equipment and give whatever beast comes along a free meal?"

Unable to find a suitable refute to what Galix had just said, Elequinn simply folded her arms and grumbled softly to herself. A moment later, the girl grabbed her backpack and got off the cart she had been sitting on, placing one of the rations she had brought begrudgingly beside her friend.

"I'm gonna go for a walk."

John flew off the Gargwa he had been resting on as soon as she said that, settling himself down comfortably on Elequinn's left shoulder. Giving her friend one last look of annoyance, the huntress turned and headed off into the tall grass, quickly vanishing from sight.

Watching his friend leave quietly, Galix slowly picked up the ration that had been given to him as he reflected over what Elequinn had told him. The man's blue eyes, hidden as usual behind his fringe of black hair, gradually settled onto the weapon casing that had been beside him the entire time he had slept.

"…_Cursed_, huh?"

* * *

Chewing on a piece of the rations that she had brought, Elequinn sulked quietly down the path she was walking, kicking aside a few stones in her way as she moved. Though she knew that Galix was right about not being able to simply throw his gear away, the girl didn't see why he couldn't understand that she was just concerned for him.

Pushing aside some of the thick and tall grass in her way, the girl paused in a small clearing to take a quick drink of water from the metal canteen she had attached to her utility belt. The liquid felt incredibly refreshing as it made its way down her throat, washing away the dry feeling brought about by the rations she had swallowed earlier.

Quickly chugging down all the water, Elequinn soon found herself holding on to an empty water canteen. Unfortunately, despite having drank all the water she had in one fell swoop, the girl was _still_ feeling hot.

"I blame Galix," rolling her eyes, Elequinn turned to look at John, who was now hovering beside her. "He's a stubborn idiot, don't you think?"

The insect rubbed his legs against his face, as though he was replying to the question she had just asked it.

"Yep, you made the right choice following me instead of waiting at the cart with that man," the girl nodded her head at John, "we should just leave that idiot all alone by himself and see what his precious bow and armor can do for him when he's completely unable to move."

It was merely a statement she had said in spite, but that feeling quickly changed to worry as Elequinn realized that what she had said might indeed come true. After all, Galix _was_ temporarily rendered a cripple with the wound he had sustained, and even a pack of Jaggis might prove to be a problem for him if they found him in his current state.

"Well, we'd have to go back eventually anyway," sighing at the fact that she couldn't even stay angry for long, the girl glanced at the empty canteen in her hand, "but first, perhaps a little refill is in order."

Making her way towards where the sound of running water was coming from, Elequinn soon found herself standing at a river bank, where a gentle stream was flowing downhill. The water itself appeared crystal clear, shimmering as it reflected the sunlight beaming down from above. Soft splashes could be heard every now and then as the liquid flowed over its pebbly riverbed.

Multiple trees and bushes were aligned alongside the edge of the brook, their canopies and leaves providing ample shelter for the multitude of dragonflies that danced over the flowing water. A small group of Kelbis were present on the opposite end of the river, some of them arching their heads down to take sips of the water, whilst others simply deciding to rest their legs beside it.

The scenic environment caught Elequinn by surprise, and she found herself taking a moment to appreciate nature in its glory. Even John seemed thrilled at the sight before him, flying towards the hoard of dragonflies and causing them to dart away in surprise at his size.

Deciding that the water should be pure enough to be drinkable, the girl took out her gloves and placed them gently on the ground beside her. Feeling the cold air with her bare hands once more felt invigorating, and Elequinn flexed her fingers as she stretched her arms. They felt strangely more natural now that she wasn't wearing the gloves.

_Maybe wearing them puts some kind of strain on me…_

Granted, the girl felt the weight of the armor she was wearing as well. The plating on her chest felt heavy after she had worn it for so long, despite her remembering it being relatively light when she had initially put it on. She couldn't take her armor off though – not until she was certain there was no chance of being caught by surprise by a monster in the wilds.

Getting onto her knees and unscrewing the cap on her metal canteen, Elequinn started to fill it with the water flowing in the river. Having done that, she lowered her palms and scooped up some more of the liquid, splashing it onto her face and sighing in pleasure from how revitalizing it felt.

A sudden yelp from the other side of the river caught the girl's attention, and her head quickly turned towards the source of the sound. The Kelbis that had been relaxing along the river bank opposite her were now clearly on edge, and one of them was limping towards the others, its body bleeding profusely from a wound.

_An attack?_

Elequinn stuffed the canteen she had refilled into her belt immediately, grabbing on to her gloves beside her and putting them on. Another sound came from the bushes beside the Kelbis – this time a low growl that caused the herbivores to freeze entirely in their tracks.

Then, before any one of them could react, a purple blur leapt out of the shrubbery, instantly killing one of the Kelbis with a snap of its jaws whilst sending a few others flying using its thick tail. Looking at the other Kelbis nearby with merciless red eyes, the creature lunged itself at them as they attempted to flee, plunging the sole talon on its arms into their bodies and ripping through the herbivores' flesh with ease.

The blood from the Kelbis splattered onto the beast's lavender hide as it claimed its prize, slowly flowing down onto its dull white underbelly. Satisfied with its catch, the beast turned its frilled head towards the sky and let loose a high pitched howl.

A myriad of shrill cries sounded from behind it, clearly responding to the sound it had made. A moment later, several smaller creatures who resembled the monster emerged from behind it, running towards their leader and snapping at each other as if determining who should have the first bite.

Elequinn observed the entire scene in silence, keeping her body as still as possible to avoid catching the attention of the monsters. Just as she had witnessed nature's beauty, so too had she seen how vicious nature could be.

It wasn't as though the girl didn't know what she was facing though – Elequinn easily recognized the beasts thanks to a combination of personal experience as well as knowledge from the books she used to read before bedtime.

_Jaggis…and their leader. Not the biggest monsters around, but makes up for their lack of size in teamwork and numbers._

The smaller variants of the Bird Wyverns used to emerge from the forests back when Woodsten was still surrounded by trees, sending children playing near the woods scuttling back to their parents. Some of them were captured by hunters, and brought to arenas for training purposes.

Elequinn had often been a spectator at the arena matches, cheering people on as they took down the purple Bird Wyverns. It was always entertaining, seeing how the hunters and huntresses used their wits and the items provided to them to defeat the beasts.

But that was in a controlled environment, where the monsters would be sedated if anything went wrong. It was the same deal back when she had enrolled in the hunters' training school – they would pit the cadets against creatures whilst the instructor kept watch, pulling the trainees out if anything went awry.

But here, Elequinn knew that there was no fail-safe to protect her. It wasn't on the level that the black beast in the tundra had inspired, but the girl still felt a rush of fear as she eyeballed the Bird Wyverns warily. This time however, she was properly equipped and prepared to deal with the situation.

Despite that, a soft voice in the back of her head reminded Elequinn that she couldn't afford to get into a fight with the beasts at the moment – Galix was still back at the cart alone and defenseless. Backpedalling at a slow pace, the girl attempted to move out of the Bird Wyverns' sight, slowly slinking away into the grass behind her.

A sudden pressure on her right arm caused Elequinn to let out a cry of surprise. She turned her head sharply to her right, letting loose a sigh of relief as she realized that it was just John having landed on her body.

And then the girl felt a chill make its way up her spine, spreading throughout her body and causing her to tremble slightly. It was a feeling Elequinn was only all too familiar with. Returning her gaze back to the Jaggis, Elequinn saw the Bird Wyverns staring inquisitively at her. However, it wasn't the smaller beasts that she was worried about.

The Great Jaggi standing in the middle of the pack was slowly moving forward, as though it was trying to ascertain exactly what it was seeing. The monster stopped one step short of stepping into the river, alternating its gaze between Elequinn and the flowing water at its feet.

_Shit. That river's not deep enough._

The girl wasn't about to let the beast figure that out in its own sweet time, and quickly shook off the cold feet she was getting. Then, with a combination of exhilaration and fear empowering her body, Elequinn bolted in the direction of the cart.

Behind her, she heard the first of many splashes as the Great Jaggi stepped into the water, a terrifying howl escaping its maws as it realized that the brook was no obstacle to its next meal.

The hunt was on.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: This is all typed at ungodly hours in the morning, so apologies for any typos (like the horrible one in the last chapter).**

* * *

Back at the cart, Galix silently chewed on the ration that Elequinn had provided him with as he stared at the entrance of the forest nearby. It wasn't his first time that he was about enter that particular area, but the man always felt unsafe when venturing into the wilderness.

He always had this feeling that one day a monster could suddenly pounce on him from behind or even above, taking his life before he even knew what happened. After all, in a thick forest, the entire environment would be working against him.

"And now I have _this_ to worry about," Galix sighed as he looked at his wounded left leg, "as if I really needed to be a liability on Elly."

A high pitched howl sounded in the distance, the sound carried by the wind that was ruffling Galix's black hair. The Gargwa in front of the man suddenly perked up from its sleep, its elongated neck twisting as the Bird Wyvern looked around in confusion.

"Ah, _crap_," easily recognizing the sound of a Great Jaggi from personal experience, Galix opened his weapon casing immediately, gripping his bow tightly and looking cautiously at the tall grass surrounding him. It was a bad position to be in, and the hunter knew it in his heart. "Stuck in the middle of a clearing, with grass blocking our vision everywhere…looks like we're sitting ducks."

Another howl rung through the air, this time sounding a lot nearer than the first. The Gargwa moved closer to Galix as it let out a terrified squawk, sensing the presence of its predators in the air. The hunter himself felt similarly on edge, though he did his best to compose himself as he petted the flightless bird with his free hand.

_Those who use the weapons and the armor he forges will face an untimely death._

Galix grimaced as he was suddenly reminded of Elequinn's words. His blue eyes looked at the bow he was holding – stray pieces of leaves picked up by the wind and thrown in his direction were sliced cleanly into two as they touched its limbs, a testament to just how sharp they were.

"Cursed or not, you're all I got."

Reaching into his weapon casing once more, Galix unzipped a small compartment in it and took out a pair of goggles, their lens a dull gray in color. Brushing aside his messy fringe, the hunter strapped them tightly on to his head.

The goggles prevented his hair from falling in front of his face as they normally would, and the man's piercing gaze scanned the area as he readied his quiver beside him.

A sudden rustling in front of him caused the hunter to instantly nock an arrow, pulling back the string of his bow hard as he pointed the tip of the projectile towards where the sound had come from.

"Come on, then. Show me your ugly face and let's tango."

The grass began to shake violently – whatever was approaching was drawing close. His vision unhampered by the glare of the sun thanks to the goggles he was wearing, Galix steadied his breathing and tightened his grip on his bow.

"_Come on!_"

As if in response to his cry, something darted out from the grass, moving quickly towards the cart. However, it was hardly the purple Bird Wyvern that he had been expecting. Instead, what emerged from the bushes was a familiar looking girl with her hair dyed an eye-catching aquamarine, and a large firefly hovering beside her.

"What the hell?" Galix blinked in bewilderment as he recognized Elequinn sprinting towards him. Lowering his weapon, the man gave his friend a look of confusion as she stopped right beside the Gargwa, leaning against the fat herbivore for support. The insect that had been flying beside her also perched itself on the creature, making itself comfortable amongst the soft feathers.

"J-Jaggi," the girl paused as she swallowed down huge quantities of air through her mouth, her breathing ragged and unsteady, "chasing me."

"_Shit_," turning towards the direction where Elequinn had emerged from the grass, Galix prepared his bow once more. The sound of many pattering feet approaching made the hunter frown. He had nearly forgotten – Great Jaggis never hunted alone. "This isn't good. Why'd you even bring them here?"

"I-" Elequinn paused midsentence as she looked at her friend, then sheepishly turned her gaze towards the ground, "I was worried you'd be in trouble, so…"

"So you brought them _here_, to where your crippled teammate is," Galix let out a groan, "come on Elly, you can do better than that."

"Hey, I was just worried you were being mauled to death by an Arzuros or something while I was gone," the girl's breathing was stabilizing as she spoke, "you don't have to be rude."

The first of many Jaggis leapt out of the bushes in front of the two friends, interrupting their conversation with a shrill cry. Without hesitation, Galix fired the arrow he had been preparing towards the small Bird Wyvern.

The projectile struck true, brutally impaling the creature's body and sending it flying back into the tall grass behind it. Another Jaggi quickly emerged to take its place however, and more soon appeared, gradually flooding the clearing as they closed in on the hunters.

While small and not yet fully developed, the Jaggis still possessed sharp fangs and claws capable of delivering some nasty wounds if they made contact with flesh. Both hunters were aware of this, and neither one truly wanted to get into this fight if it was avoidable. Unfortunately, the Bird Wyverns continued to edge towards them, closing the distance one step at a time as they displayed their frills threateningly.

"I count twelve," Galix's blue eyes were focused on the creatures as he nocked another arrow, waiting for a chance to impale several of them in one shot. Seeing what he was doing however, the Bird Wyverns spread themselves apart, causing the hunter to click his tongue in annoyance. "_Clever_."

"I guess that means we take six each?" Elequinn clenched her fists as she readied herself. It was her first time fighting an actual carnivorous monster for real, but the girl was quite confident in the power of her gloves, given that they had proven to be capable of easily penetrating solid steel.

"I'd take them all on if it wasn't for my leg," Galix sniffed, "hold on – where's their boss?"

A loud howl from the grass beside the cart made the two friends turn to their right in alarm, just in time to see the leader of the Jaggis snarling at them triumphantly from the bushes.

"_A flank_?"

It was all the monster allowed Galix to say before it launched its attack, throwing its entire body towards the cart that the hunter was on and causing it to flip over.

Sent flying by the attack, Galix gritted his teeth as he braced for impact, dropping his weapon and placing his arms in front of his face to protect it. The hunter hit the ground a few meters away, letting out a cry of anguish from the pain as his unprotected left leg scraped against the floor. The goggles he was wearing managed to protect his eyes from the dust and dirt kicked up from the fall, but it hardly stopped them from staining his face brown.

"Galix!"

Elequinn screamed her friend's name as she leapt out of the way, the wooden cart crashing down on where she had been standing moments before. The Gargwa beside her was too slow to avoid the impact however, and it let out one final squawk of terror before being crushed.

John was much speedier than the herbivore though, and managed to take flight in time to avoid the attack. The firefly's abdomen lit up aggressively once again, then stopped as he landed himself on the overturned cart, tilting his head slightly as his black eyes observed the scenario unfolding before him.

As she attempted to run to her friend's aid, the Great Jaggi stepped in between them, a cunning glint in its red eyes as it issued an order to its minions with another howl. The Jaggis reacted immediately, a small group of them running towards the now helpless Galix lying on the floor.

_This thing…it's not fooling around._

Elequinn gulped as she stared at the Bird Wyverns around her, their leader growling at her as its frills flared up. With one attack, the Great Jaggi had proven to the girl that armor could only do much in a real hunt.

_This isn't training. I might die._

Her fists clenching up from the tension, the metallic bracelets around Elequinn's glowed a soft purple, as though they were sensing their wielder's will to fight.

Taking advantage of the fact that the beasts were still sizing her up, the girl took a deep breath and assessed the situation.

_Galix said there were twelve. This thing just sent three to him so…_

The solution was simple, and required no overthinking on her part. She had to eliminate the remaining nine, as well as their leader standing before her.

The Great Jaggi let out a snarl as a signal of attack, and Elequinn quickly entered a combat stance as she turned towards the Bird Wyvern. Instead of tackling her head on however, the creature merely stood its ground and stared at the huntress.

A moment later, something struck the girl in her back, causing her to wince as she turned around to find the Jaggis attacking her with their barbed tails. Thankfully, the armor on her back absorbed much of their blows, reducing them to nothing more than minor annoyances.

"You little-"

Her sentence was cut short as Elequinn remembered the real threat in front of her, and turned back to face the Great Jaggi just in time to receive a brutal swipe from the much thicker tail of the Jaggis' leader.

Her chest plate took the brunt of the attack, but the blow was still sufficient enough to send the girl flying. Landing on her back and grimacing in pain, Elequinn quickly picked herself up, steadying her wobbling feet just in time to dive away and avoid a full body tackle by the Great Jaggi.

Knowing that she couldn't possibly stay on the defensive forever, Elequinn glared at the Jaggis cheering their leader on in the distance. It irked her as she saw how similar the creatures acted to a jeering crowd, hooting at the combatants as they struggled in a fight to the death.

With adrenaline surging through her body, the huntress let out a battle cry as she charged towards the pink Bird Wyverns, thrusting her arms forward as soon as she got within range.

There was a satisfying _crack_ as her knuckles connected with the head of one of the creatures, sending it flying as it spat out blood from its mouth. She wasn't quite done yet however, and Elequinn quickly pounced onto the fallen beast and aimed for its head with her fists, pounding the creature's face into a fine red mist.

The rest of the Jaggis hissed spitefully at her, though they kept their distance from the girl, afraid that they may suffer the same fate as the one she was mutilating. As she noticed the Great Jaggi moving towards her however, Elequinn quickly got up and increased the distance between them.

The monster stopped as it saw what the huntress had done to its kin. Though its body was intact, the head of the Jaggi that had suffered her wrath was now little more than a horrifying mess of organs and bone.

"You okay there, Elly?" Galix's voice called out from behind her. "Might want to pick that arrow beside you up."

Seeing that her opponent was distracted, the girl glanced at her friend, feeling a rush of relief as she saw him surrounded by the corpses of the Jaggi that had been sent to attack him. In his arms was one of the arrows that had been scattered all over the floor when the cart was knocked over, its tip shining red from the blood of the monsters it had slashed through.

"Yeah," Elequinn nodded as she followed her friend's advice, bending down and grabbing one of the arrows near her feet. As she held it in her hands, she saw that the arrowhead was a pale blue in color, a tint similar to that of Galix's bow. "Thank-"

"_Look out!_"

Galix's warning came just in time, and Elequinn turned to find the Great Jaggi lunging towards her with its jaws agape. The girl reacted instinctively, pointing the sharp tip of the arrow she was holding at the beast's muzzle.

At that point, time seemed to slow down for the huntress. She could feel her sweat trickling down her back and forehead as she stared at the monster, seeing its rows of razor sharp yellow teeth moving towards her in slow motion.

She saw the white fur on its head and back swaying slightly in the breeze, and the same wind made her feel cold as ice when it made contact with her skin.

Her teal eyes met with the angry red ones of the Bird Wyvern, and for a moment, Elequinn felt like she saw something other than blinding hatred swirling in its pupils. It was only a brief flash, but the girl knew exactly what it was the beast before her was feeling as it finally realized that its attack was destined for failure.

_Fear._

The next instant, Elequinn found herself struggling to maintain her grip on the arrow as the Great Jaggi impaled itself upon the tip, its momentum causing it to continue moving forward. Her hands giving out a second later, the girl lurched to one side as the Bird Wyvern staggered forward for a few more steps before finally collapsing onto the floor.

The Jaggis in the distance all turned completely silent the moment their leader fell, gazing at his slayer with loathe in their eyes. A moment later, they started to scatter one by one, running off in disorientation into the tall grass surrounding the area.

Now that there were no longer any monsters in sight, Elequinn looked at her friend in disbelief of what had just happened. Moving closer to the corpse of the Great Jaggi, the girl's eyes widened as she saw that the arrow had successfully managed to penetrate the creature's skull.

"How?"

Galix, who was now lying on his back, simply laughed in reply.

"At least they got the part about Mideus forging powerful equipment right," the man toned down his laughter as he continued, "but seriously, from now on, we stick together. You got that?"

"Yeah," Elequinn muttered quietly in response as she folded her arms, her face turning red as she was reminded that the whole situation occurred due to her concern for Galix's safety. "I guess."

* * *

With the wooden cart toppled over and Galix's condition rendering him unable to help Elequinn turn it back upright, the two soon found themselves taking shelter from the midday sun under the shade of the forest trees nearby.

"I think that's the last of it," Elequinn passed the fully loaded quiver in her arms to her friend, "taking that last one out from the Great Jaggi was _horrible_."

"I'm the one that has to wash them later anyway," sighing, Galix took his arrows and placed them beside him. "Now then, we seem to be stuck in a bit of a dilemma. Without the Gargwa, we'd take much longer to get to our destination. And that's with me actually being able to walk."

"Poor bird," the girl shook her head sadly as she recalled the frightened cry the herbivore had made moments before its death, "I hope he's in a better place now."

"I wish he was still here, so I wouldn't have to think so hard about our next move," looking at his left leg with a vexed expression, Galix let out another sigh as he pressed one of his hands against his forehead. A sudden buzzing sound caused him to look up, and the man's eyes lit up as he saw John darting around in the air above him. "John, come here for a moment."

At his call, the firefly swooped down, landing on Galix's open palm.

"Tell Aria we're in need of assistance. Send something that can get us to Hope fast."

The insect seemed to nod as it took to the air, this time ascending much higher into the sky than usual before heading off.

"I would assume Hope is the endpoint of our journey," Elequinn looked at her friend with one eyebrow raised, "but did you seriously just ask an _insect_ to convey a message? Besides, what can this Aria girl actually do that would help us in our current situation?"

"You'd be surprised, Elly," Galix had a playful glint in his eyes as he leaned back against the trunk of the tree he was resting on, "wait and see."


	7. Chapter 7

As the two of them continued to wait under the shelter of the trees, Elequinn quickly found herself stifling a yawn. Stretching her limbs as she laid back against a tree trunk, the girl felt some of her muscles slightly aching from the exertion of the fight earlier.

As much as the atmosphere felt relaxing enough for her to nod off, the occasional cry of a monster coming from deep within the forest would cause Elequinn to jolt awake in an instant, her heart beating wildly as she looked around uneasily. Everything would seem to be in place however, and Galix would return her look with a tense expression on his face.

_Looks like I'm not the only one who's still on edge about earlier._

Looking back at the fight, Elequinn bit her lips as she recalled how it was almost a fluke that she had taken down the Great Jaggi. If she had been too slow to react, or if Galix had not told her to pick up his arrow, the results of the beast's attack would have undoubtedly ended in a disaster for her.

_I could have lost my arms…or worse._

"Something on your mind?" Galix looked at her with a knowing smile. "Let me guess: it's that bunch of Jaggi, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Elequinn sighed as she nodded somberly, "I always knew that hunting was tough, but that monster…it kind of showed me that this isn't some kind of game. One fatal mistake and everything would be over."

"You'll get better. It takes time, but you definitely have it in you to become a great hunter, just like your mother."

"Thanks, I guess."

Seeing that her friend was trying to cheer her up, Elequinn smiled appreciatively at him. However, it was difficult for her to truly believe Galix's words. Unlike him, the girl never received any further training from her mother after the latter disappeared, and most of what she had done was drilling in the basics of what she had been taught into her brain.

Galix on the other hand, had been under the tutorage of his hunter father ever since his adolescent years, and still would be if he had not chosen to up and vanish before his entrance exam. Naturally, he was more experienced and skillful in the art of the hunt, and the girl couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy as she looked at the Rathalos armor her friend was donning.

_No. If I really wanted to get better, then I should start doing what I can to improve._

Elequinn's eyes shifted over to her backpack lying beside her, then to the gloves that she was wearing. Now that she had some spare time, the girl figured that it was a good moment to read up on exactly what it was that her father had produced. Removing the gloves to prevent their rugged exterior from damaging the bag, she carefully took out the weapon's blueprints and inspected them.

Although some of the pieces had been damaged during the scuffle with the Guild Knights the night before, Elequinn breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that the important ones detailing upgrades for the weapon were still intact. Her teal eyes scanned the papers carefully, and occasionally broke out into a grin as she recognized some of her father's jargons scribbled hastily onto some pages.

"Top grade ore…restructure...monster's horn...bracelet?"

Muttering bits and pieces of what she was reading, Elequinn quickly found herself fully engaged in reading exactly what it was that her father had done to create the gloves that she had been wearing since she left. Her eyes widened as she realized that a vast majority of the items used in the creation of the gloves were of an extremely high grade.

There were even a few items with terminologies that the girl herself was not familiar with, and the more she read, the more she felt that she had woefully underestimated the power of the weapon her father had given her. A particular picture caught her eye – it was a rough sketch of the bracelet-like objects around the wrist area of the gloves. Beside the image, there was a short paragraph dedicated to it.

"Forged from the melted down horn of the creature, it possesses vast elemental compatibility," Elequinn felt her curiosity increasing as she read the words out loud, "harnessing this power will require further research, though it is suspected that certain monster organs may be key."

Putting the blueprint down for a moment, the girl picked up the gloves and observed the bracelets closely. Now that she finally had time to inspect them thoroughly, Elequinn realized that the lines encircling the metal seemed to gradually merge together near the underside of the material. With her gut instinct urging her on, she ran one of her fingers along that particular section of steel. Feeling an uneven budge, she hesitated for a moment before throwing caution to the wind and pushing down on it.

A small slot opened up where her finger had been, ejecting something to the ground with an almost inaudible _click_. Picking the small object up, Elequinn looked at it with interest in her eyes. The item itself was small and gray, barely half the length of her fingers, and appeared to be an empty vial of some sort.

"Hey, Galix," Elequinn turned to her friend, who had busied himself with performing maintenance on his equipment not too long after she started reading the blueprints, "what do you make of this?"

The girl tossed the phial over to her friend, who promptly caught it between his thumbs. The man held it up and scrutinized the item carefully for a minute before finally shrugging.

"No frigging clue. You're the one who knows all this kind of stuff anyway, no?"

"Papa never told me about this," Elequinn shook her head in reply, "everything's supposed to be in these papers though... I don't think he would have given them to me otherwise."

Taking the vial back from her Galix and returning to the blueprint she was reading before, the girl scanned the page carefully. Unfortunately, aside from the schematic and the few lines of words she had already read, there was absolutely nothing else detailing what purpose the vial served in the weapon.

"You think Mideus would know something?" Her eyes lit up as Elequinn looked hopefully to her friend. "Maybe he can shed some light on this thing when we meet him."

"Hey, I thought you didn't want to come into contact with your so called 'Cursed Blacksmith'," Galix let out a laugh, "whatever happened to 'use his weapons and die' or whatever it is you said?"

"Very funny," the girl scowled at him as she folded her arms, "it's just a question, so I doubt I'd be affected by his curse in any way. Besides, it's not like I'm asking him to actually craft the weapon for me."

"I didn't ask him to craft this for me either, but he did it anyway," Galix gestured to the casing beside him that contained his bow, "but either way, I'm afraid it's a bit too late to ask him any questions."

"Why's that?"

"Guy made it clear when I left Hope to return to Woodsten for you – he wasn't going to stick around and wait for me."

"Darn it."

Falling silent, Elequinn scrunched up her face as she resumed poring over the blueprints. After a minute or two however, it was clear that she wasn't making anymore headway – a nagging feeling over what purpose the vial served in her gloves kept gnawing away at the girl's mind. With a dejected sigh, she tucked the papers away into her bag.

Instead, she went back to her original position of leaning against the tree trunk, crossing her legs and feeling the warm afternoon wind blowing against her face. The lush grass fields around her seemed to go on for miles without stopping, and as she looked up at the vast blue skies with their white clouds slowly moving in the distance, Elequinn found her mind gradually beginning to wander.

* * *

She saw three people, seated at their dining table. Two adults, one male and one female, with a little girl in the middle. The child was beaming, giggling ever so slightly as the two beside her conversed. The red rays of the setting sun shone in lazily through the windows, illuminating the room with its crimson light. Then, there was a flash of lightning.

Now only two remained seated at the table, the girl and the male adult. The former had grown up impossibly quickly, and was now looking at the male beside her, his face hidden in the shadows but emitting a sense of sorrow. Her lips parted, but no words came out. She didn't know what to say.

"_Elly._"

The image flickered, like grains of sand scattering before the wind.

"_Elly!_"

Hearing the voice hissing her name once again, Elequinn blinked as she found herself staring up at the sky, which was now stained a dark blue in color. The harsh sunlight had apparently long since dissipated, replaced by the cold wind of evening. Her body felt clammy and lethargic, perhaps due to how long she had remained stationary in that position.

_I fell asleep?_

The girl quickly came to the conclusion that she had been more drained than she thought. Thankfully, as her body began to warm up from stretching her limbs, she felt her strength rapidly returning.

Now that she no longer felt the fatigue incurred from her skirmish earlier with the Bird Wyverns, Turning towards her friend, Elequinn prepared to mutter a quick apology for dozing off. Before she could as much as utter a word however, the girl spotted something that caused her breath to get caught in her throat.

Not more than thirty feet away from their location was a creature that resembled a boar of sorts, with the exception of its size, which was considerably larger than any domesticated swine that Elequinn had seen before back in her hometown.

Two large, curved ivory tusks protruding from the sides of its mouth swung dangerously through the air as the beast sniffed the ground with its pink-tipped snout, letting out a series of grunts whilst stomping the floor with its hooves. White fur lined the area around both its massive face and the ends of its feet, a symbol of the monster's seniority amongst its kind.

It was another common grassland monster that Elequinn had read about before – the Bulldrome. Now that she was observing it close up however, the girl wasn't in the least pleased to find out how much larger the beast's tusks were compared to when she had imagined it. She was certain that if it decided to charge straight at her, her armor would offer little protection against being gored.

Realizing that the creature was slowly beginning to approach their location, Elequinn gasped as she finally understood what it was the monster was attempting to find.

_Food._

Although the rations in her backpack had no detectable odor to speak of, the girl was confident that the Bulldrome's superior sense of smell could easily pick up its scent. As she finally pulled her eyes away from the monster and towards Galix, Elequinn found that her friend had seemed to come to the same conclusion as herself, motioning at her bag lying a short distance away.

_Better to die of starvation than to be monster chow._

Nodding, the girl kept her eyes on the Fanged Beast as she slowly inched towards her bag, praying that the creature did not spot her moving. With every grunt and snort made by the Bulldrome, Elequinn found her body tensing up fearfully, afraid she may have just breathed her last.

Fortunately, the monster appeared to have poor vision, further hampered by the darkened surroundings. Thanking the heavens that she had managed to reach her backpack without any difficulties, Elequinn's hands worked fast to remove the rations inside them, tossing the food as far away into the grass as she could and causing it to make a rustling noise as it landed.

The Bulldrome snorted loudly as soon as it heard the sound, turning towards the direction of the thrown rations and grunting as its short but powerful legs thrust it forward. As the monster vanished into the tall grass, Elequinn waited with bated breath, keeping her eyes on the lookout in case the beast decided to return.

A minute passed before the huntress finally allowed herself to relax, looking towards her friend who was also undoubtedly relieved that their plan worked out without a hitch.

"That was _too_ close," Galix rubbed his wounded leg as he spoke, "if that pig had caught scent of us, I'd probably be a decoration on a tree right about now."

"Yeah," Elequinn nodded, "could have woke me up sooner though."

"I tried," her friend shrugged, "but it kind of homed in on where we were faster than I could get you up. You were sleeping like a log."

"Truth be told, I don't like this place. We can't even start a campfire, and we're completely open to _any _monster attacks."

"Not like we have much of a choice, Elly."

Picking herself up, Elequinn scanned the horizon for any signs of civilization. Unfortunately, all that met her eyes was the seemingly unending stretch of tall and untrimmed vegetation. Not a single manmade light showed up in the horizon, and the ever increasing shadows only made the girl more concerned about their safety.

_If something decides to take advantage of the darkness…we'd probably be completely helpless._

A tiny black dot that stood out from the skies caught her attention, and Elequinn narrowed her eyes as she looked at the object bobbing up and down in distance. Whatever it was, it seemed to be rapidly approaching their position, as the dot was increasing in size at an alarming rate.

"Shit," the girl cussed as she turned to her friend, "I think we need to go. _Now._"

"What's up?"

"Something's headed this way, and I don't want to be here when it arrives."

"But where do you even expect us to head to?"

"Anywhere but here. The last thing I want to do is being caught unawares while slee-"

A loud rustling behind her caused Elequinn's body to stiffen up once again, and the huntress cut herself off as she turned around. The Bulldrome had emerged from the grass, and this time its large tusks were pointed dead ahead at the pair of friends, who had both turned motionless.

This time however, the monster wasn't sniffing the floor to pinpoint their location. Instead, it let out a hostile grunt as its stout legs stomped on the floor in an act of aggression.

"_Perfect,_" Galix rolled his eyes, "just _perfect_."

With a snort, the Bulldrome charged forward at a surprising speed, lowering its head slightly in an attempt to skewer the hunters. Elequinn ducked out of the way easily, grabbing on to her backpack and slinging it over her shoulders in one smooth motion.

Thanks to the condition of his leg, Galix had a more difficult time avoiding the attack. Pushing himself to the side, the hunter barely managed to roll away from the ivory tusks that rammed into the tree he was lying against moments ago. There was a loud cracking sound as the trunk of the tree the Bulldrome had hit splintered into pieces, sending bark scattering all around.

Rushing forward to help her friend distract the monster, Elequinn punched at the beast's vulnerable rear. The coarse hide and bristly hair of the Fanged Beast provided little protection against the metallic plating on the huntress' knuckles, and the Bulldrome squealed in pain from the attack.

What happened next surprised the girl however – almost like a gut reaction, the beast swung its head around quicker than she could blink. The white tusks on its mouth slammed into Elequinn's chest, knocking the wind out of her as she was sent flying a few feet backwards.

Groaning in pain as she picked herself up, the huntress let out a dismal groan as she saw that her chest plate had been dented by the attack. Granted, it was armor that had been lying around in her house's basement for years, and she had been expecting it to wear out sooner or later.

_But it's only been a few days…_

The sound of hooves trampling the ground caused the girl to look up, and her face contorted into one of shock as she saw that the Bulldrome was headed straight for her. Scrambling to her feet, Elequinn barely dived out of the way of the monster's sharp tusks, feeling a rush of wind as the creature charged by her.

Rather than stopping after missing its target however, the Bulldrome continued to charge into the distance, vanishing into the tall grass. There was a momentary peace in the air as the creature seemingly disappeared from sight. Elequinn wasn't fooled however - she knew that these monsters were territorial by nature, and would not simply run off after initiating a fight unless seriously injured.

Looking at her back, she caught sight of Galix limping to another tree beside the one that had fallen. The hunter did not seem to have sustained any injury from the Bulldrome's attack earlier, and the girl felt a tinge of relief in her heart.

_No time to celebrate though._

Her eyes turned to the large tree that had suffered the creature's wrath – its bark may be sturdy, but it was clearly not enough to stop the Bulldrome in its tracks. In fact, from the way it was tilting so dangerously, Elequinn felt certain that it would soon collapse completely.

_Wait, that's it!_

The sound of grass being trampled and pushed aside caused the girl to turn her attention back towards the approaching Bulldrome. This time however, she knew what she had to do.

Positioning herself between the damaged tree and the Fanged Beast's path, Elequinn readied herself for another charging assault. It wasn't the best of plans to use herself as bait, but she couldn't rely on an injured Galix to help. The tree falling onto the Bulldrome would definitely immobilize the monster – perhaps long enough to allow her and Galix to attack its defenseless back.

Before she could try anything however, a distinct buzzing sounded from above her. Both the huntress and the Bulldrome looked up together in unison, the animosity between them temporarily dispelled.

Elequinn nearly choked on her own saliva as she saw the source of the sound: a hovering Neopteron whose size dwarfed even that of the Fanged Beast before her. The beetle-like monster let out a shrill cry as it descended slowly, its green and yellow exoskeleton glinting slightly in the fading evening light.

A single spiny horn jutted out above the brightly colored monster's head, overshadowing the two smaller ones on either side of it. Of its six limbs, the foremost pair appeared the most dangerous, resembling shining yellow sickles that the creature constantly rubbed against each other in an act of intimidation.

The Bulldrome squealed at the insectoid, evidently unhappy that its fight with Elequinn had been interrupted so abruptly. The huntress quickly backed off to increase the distance between the Neopteron and herself, scrapping all her plans for dealing with the Fanged Beast to the side. However, she soon realized with a start that the intruder did not seem interested in attacking her at all.

Rather, the insect pointed its horn directly at the Bulldrome as it landed on the floor, its yellow mandibles clacking together threateningly. Letting out another agitated grunt as it finally understood what was up, the Bulldrome accepted the challenge presented to it as it lowered its head, pointing its ivory tusks towards the newcomer.

"Ha, our savior arrives," Galix let out a laugh as he limped up to Elequinn, once again using his weapon case to support himself. "Now who do you reckon would win this little scuffle?"

"Savior?" The girl blinked as she looked at her friend incredulously. "You mean to say this Seltas is on _our_ side?"

"Well, it's on Aria's side, which would probably mean it's on our side, yeah," the man let out another hearty laugh, "I knew that gal would get what I was hinting at. Didn't think she'd really send old Sel here though."

"He has a name," Elequinn muttered as she looked at the Seltas before her, "_of course _he has a name."

The two monsters facing off seemed to be daring each other to make the first move as they sized each other up, but neither one appeared to want to be the first to strike. After what felt like a full minute of endless taunting however, the Seltas seemed to finally cave in to the pressure. His collapsible wings opened up to reveal the transparent ones underneath, flapping fast enough to generate a loud buzzing noise.

As the Neopteron prepared to propel himself forward, his opponent did the same, pawing the ground with one of its front legs. Then, as though they had some sort of unspoken agreement, both monsters charged towards each other at the exact same time.

It was a scene that Elequinn had never read about before in any of her books, and the girl found herself cheering for the Seltas in her mind as she watched the two hurl themselves towards each other.

At the last moment however, the Seltas veered himself sideways, narrowly avoiding the tusks of the Bulldrome and causing the latter to stop its attack in confusion. The Neopteron made an arc as he swerved gracefully through the air, descending with a cunning gleam in his yellow compound eyes as he made a beeline for the soft hide of his opponent.

It was too late by the time the Fanged Beast realized what was going on, and the poor Bulldrome grunted in anguish as its rear was impaled by the horn of the Seltas. The spiny protrusions on the insect's horn served to amplify the damage done, tearing apart even more tissue and flesh as he attempted to retract it.

With one final effort, the Seltas successfully managed to pull his horn out of the Bulldrome, leaving the latter with a large gaping orifice on the side of its body. Crimson liquid gushed out profusely from the fatal wound, and the Fanged Beast took a few feeble steps forward before finally toppling over, its shallow breathing gradually ceasing altogether.

"There we go, trouble's over," Galix limped forward to the victorious Seltas, waving to the creature as he spoke, "I should probably introduce you to him."

Although her friend appeared to have no fear of the insect, Elequinn didn't exactly feel at ease around a monster that had just speared his head through another beast's body. The huntress approached the Seltas apprehensively, trying her best to hide her disgust as she spotted some of the Bulldrome's guts hanging revoltingly on the Neopteron's horn.

"Great fight there, Sel," Galix grinned as he patted the body of the insect, "I think Aria would be proud."

Although Elequinn was half expecting the Seltas to remove her friend's head clean off his shoulders with one swipe of his scythe-like forelimbs, nothing of the sort happened. Instead, the insect kept them tucked under his head as it descended onto the floor, his unblinking yellow eyes staring at the two hunters.

"And uh, this here is Elequinn, she's with me. Say hi, Elly."

The huntress rolled her eyes.

"You can't be serious."

"I am."

Elequinn let out a sigh as she moved closer to the Seltas. Now that he was no longer in battle, the monster appeared completely docile. Upon closer inspection, she spotted a saddle on the head of the insect, together with reins that were tied to the base of his horn.

"Hello, Sel," Elequinn gulped as she recognized the riding equipment on the Neopteron, "why do I have a bad feeling about all this equipment you're wearing?"

"Ah, so you've finally spotted it. I was the one who mentioned to Aria the possibility of riding Sel into the skies, by the way," her friend touted, "she had been experimenting with it for some time now, so I'm pretty sure it's safe to ride him as a form of transportation to Hope."

"So we'll be…_flying_ to Hope now?" The girl sucked in a deep breath. She was never one to enjoy high heights, but the fact that it didn't look particularly safe on top of the Seltas wasn't helping.

"It'll be much faster than if we were to take the route we originally intended to," Galix secured his weapon casing onto Sel's back before climbing up the insect's body, "I'm sure he was only meant to carry one person, but we'll manage somehow."

Letting out another audible gulp, Elequinn walked around the Seltas as she looked uncertainly at her friend. "There's only space on the saddle for one person, isn't there? Where should I seat?"

"Uh…I guess one of us will have to hug Sel's horn or something?"

"Like _hell_ I am," the girl made a face as she looked at the blood soaked horn of the insect, "I volunteer you to take that spot. Actually, I _insist_."

"Damn it, Elly, you sure know what you want. Take care of my weapon for me," reluctantly moving forward, Galix wiped some of the blood off before securing his hands around the Seltas' horn. Although his armor prevented the spines from hurting him, the position still made the hunter feel extremely awkward. "Right, _now_ I don't feel safe."

"Suck it up, pal," Elequinn giggled as she jumped up on to the saddle and held on to the reins in front of her tightly, "after all, I'm 'pretty sure it's safe'."

Sensing the sarcasm in her voice, Galix clicked his tongue as he was forced to eat his own words. The two friends quickly made themselves as comfortable as they possibly could on top of the Seltas, and Elequinn tugged gently on the reins she was holding when they were ready.

The Neopteron's hard outer wings opened up once again, and his set of transparent wings meant for flight fluttered quickly as he began a slow ascend. Although the girl had been expecting the ride to be extremely shaky, the back of the Seltas felt surprisingly stable.

_This isn't that bad…_

Elequinn looked around as they climbed higher and higher into the skies. She barely managed to make out the cart that hid the Gargwa's corpse, and muttered a silent prayer for the herbivore which had lost its life attempting to bring them to their destination. The Bulldrome's caress was further ahead of the cart, directly outside the entrance to the forest – the huntress was confident that within a day, some scavenger would chance upon it and enjoy a feast.

Sel let out a shrill cry as he stopped finally stopped ascending, and started to make his way forward. The speed at which the Seltas flew was initially as slow as his ascend, but rapidly increased in velocity as he moved. Soon, Elequinn found herself fighting the urge to yell out in fear from the speed at which they were darting through the skies.

_Not fun not fun not fun!_

The landscape below turned into a blur of black and blue, and the wind stung her eyes whenever the huntress tried to look ahead. Rather than maintaining an upright position, Elequinn quickly decided that the best position for her was to bend down and close her eyes, all the while holding on tightly to the reins for dear life.

There was however, one saving grace amid all the fear she was feeling. When she had had opened her eyes just once to check on Galix, the girl managed to catch an expression on her friend's face that she doubted he would ever show to anyone but himself. It was a face that she would never forget, if only because Elequinn knew her childhood friend would never want anyone to see him like that.

It was the look of sheer, unadulterated terror.

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**A/N: My vacation ends today, so the speed at which I upload chapters will probably be reduced. Again, apologies for any typos as most writing is done late at night for me. If you spot any, feel free to pm me or write it in the review section, I'll correct it ASAP.**

**Also, in case you're wondering, this is all linked, I did not just introduce a firefly and a Seltas who can understand English for kicks. It'll be better explained next chapter (or the one after that).**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Yes, I'm still alive, yes, this story is still ongoing, but at a significantly reduced pace. A lot of things have happened during the time period between this update and the last, and let's just say things are looking pretty bad. I wasn't in the mood to write for quite a while. Updates might be slow thanks to school as well, though I'll do my best to keep on writing. I do want to finish this, and it'll be a pity not to, since I have plenty of plans for this story's future chapters.**

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After what felt like hours of high speed flight, Elequinn sensed a drop in Sel's velocity. Finally shifting her position, the girl winced in pain as she felt her every muscle in her body aching. She had nearly lost all feeling in her arms, no doubt due to the blood in her body being unable to circulate effectively. She did however, take some guilty pleasure in seeing that Galix seemed to be suffering even more than her.

_Man, am I glad I didn't take the front seat._

Looking downwards, Elequinn noted that the verdant landscape appeared absolutely mesmerizing, doubly so thanks to the sun that was beginning to emerge in the horizon. Tall trees with lush green leaves spread out and covered the entirety of the upper section of the forest underneath her, blocking off all view of the forest floor as they competed with each other for sunlight.

A few of the trees had grown high enough that they stuck out of the canopy, grazing the feet of the Seltas as it flew past them. Occasionally, a few flocks of birds would bolt out of the way in panic as the Neopteron passed by them, eliciting an alarmed squawk or two from the noisier animals.

Farther ahead, Elequinn spotted a waterfall, gallons of water churning down its rocky face. The roaring sound the water made as it crashed into the foamy pool underneath it could be heard even from a distance.

Beyond the cascading water, the girl saw multiple gray mountains with peaks wrapped in the stormy embrace of thunderclouds. Although the large formations of rocks and earth were quite far from her current location, there was something about the lightning strikes at their tips that made her uneasy.

Shaking off the ominous feeling, Elequinn turned her attention back to the jungle below her. For a moment, the huntress thought that the trees had somehow shrunk in size. They were no longer close enough that she could almost touch them just by stretching out her feet, and instead seemed to have drastically reduced in height.

A quick peek at the terrain behind allowed the girl to put two and two together. It wasn't the trees that were dropping in elevation – rather, it was the land itself that was sloping downwards. The entire area appeared to have ground that that was slanted downwards, giving it a similar appearance to that of a bowl.

Turning her head forward, Elequinn saw a patch of brown dirt that stood out drastically in contrast from the greenery around it. It seemed to be right in the middle of where the ground's steep incline stopped, and as she squinted her eyes, the girl spotted tiny specks moving around. There were slightly bigger brown smudges as well, which she quickly recognized as houses.

_Hope?_

What particularly caught the huntress' eye was the colossal plant that had taken root directly in the middle of the village, towering over all other trees nearby. Its trunk was massive enough that Elequinn suspected the Seltas she was riding would probably have to take a while just to circle around it, and even the bright green leaves that sprouted out of its branches appeared to be significantly larger than the Neopteron.

The huge crown of leaves atop the plant seemed to shelter the village underneath it entirely, and as the girl marveled at the abnormality of nature, she noticed wooden planks present around the canopy of the tree. The planks had been painstakingly nailed into the bark to form a long sturdy platform around its side, and Sel let out a shrill cry as he flew towards the location.

Within moments of the Seltas landing on the planks, Galix rolled himself off the Nepteron's horn, wobbling unsteadily around the wide platform before finally placing his back against one of the great tree's many branches.

"Right," the man's face had a slight hue of green on it as he spoke, his trembling limbs clearly showing how much strain had been placed on them throughout the trip, "never doing that again. _Ever._"

Finding her friend's behavior completely ironic, Elequinn couldn't resist laughing at his reaction as she dismounted the insect. Deciding to take a quick look around, the girl walked to the edge of the platform, casting her gaze downwards at the area underneath.

The view was utterly breathtaking, and there was a refreshing smell in the air. Due to how high up she was, the other trees in the forest appeared as though they were bowing in respect before her, their size miniscule when compared to the height of the plant she was currently standing on top of. When the wind blew and their leaves swayed in unison with it, Elequinn felt as though she was looking into a shimmering green ocean.

Even the people in the village appeared to be little more than tiny black ants, slowly moving around as they went about with their daily lives. Now that she was able to have a bird's-eye view of the settlement, Hope did not appear to be very large at all. Out of the entire forest, they only occupied a small portion in the middle, directly beneath the giant tree's roots.

_Maybe the leaves provide good shelter for them?_

"Good view, isn't it?"

Passing a glance at her friend who appeared to have recovered somewhat from his trauma, Elequinn found herself nodding in agreement. The awe-inspiring view of the entire forest, coupled with the occasional cries of creatures and the gentle breeze caressing her face made for quite the scene. After all the events that leading up till this point, the girl was happy to have some time to clear her head.

Being naturally curious however, Elequinn soon found her attention shifting from the scenery to the platform she was currently standing on, and the tree that they were attached to. The plant's enormous size already made it quite the oddity to the huntress, but what was even more surprising to her was the fact that someone had actually dared to scale it and create a platform near its canopy.

The planks themselves seemed durable and capable of holding up their weight, but Elequinn suspected that there were more tree branches below them holding the boards up. One thing didn't make sense to her however.

"Hey, Galix…um," Elequinn cast a worrying look at the tanned man, "how do we get down…?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that," Galix pointed at a part of the tree covered in vines, "there's a door right over there."

Walking over to where her friend was pointing at, Elequinn inspected the particular vines carefully. Oddly enough, the green plants seemed to be emerging from the _inside_ of the tree trunk. As she attempted to touch them however, a soft click sounded, and the vegetation before her appeared to dart towards her.

The sudden movement caught her completely by surprise, and the huntress staggered backwards a few steps before landing flat on her back. Picking herself up swiftly, Elequinn saw that Galix had been right about the door – the solid looking part of the tree trunk before her had been swung outwards, resulting in her having the misperception that the vines were moving of their own accord.

Standing by the opened door was a young girl with skin as pale as snow, her bright green eyes returning Elequinn's inquisitive stare with one of her own. The girl's brown hair barely extended past her shoulders, and was parted cleanly in two down the middle of her head, with one side being noticeably longer than the other.

It was her clothes that really piqued the curiosity of the huntress however – never before had Elequinn witnessed someone dressed as strangely as the girl before her. The lass was wearing what appeared to be the dried skin of multiple animals that had been sewn together, and the pieces were held tightly in place by binding ropes. Several feathers adorned them, adding a dash of color to the dullish brown of her attire.

Fluttering gently on the girl's back was a huge yellow leaf, appearing almost like a makeshift cape of sorts due to how its stem was tied around her nape. Judging from its impossibly large size, Elequinn promptly concluded that it must have been plucked from the very same tree that was holding up the platform she was standing on.

"Um, hello," the huntress spoke up first, her voice dispelling the awkward silence in the air, "I'm Elequinn. Nice to meet you."

The girl's thin lips parted as though she meant to return the greeting, but no sound emerged. After a moment, she tilted her head and stepped out onto the platform. Without so much as passing a look at Galix, the youngster pranced over to Sel, hugging one of the Neopteron's legs as an innocent smile appeared on her face.

"Argh, you break my heart, Aria," Galix spoke as a sarcastic grin appearing on his face, "at least acknowledge my presence."

"Ah, so you're the Aria that Galix has been talking about?" Making her way over towards them, Elequinn stared at the young girl that was playfully embracing the Seltas. "I was expecting someone a bit…older."

"Aria is mature enough," speaking for the first time in a soft tone, the young girl released Sel's leg and turned her gaze towards the two hunters, "Sel says you two tire him out. Galix should have told Aria that there is more than one rider."

Taken aback by how aloof Aria seemed to be as well as the fact that she was speaking in third person, Elequinn found herself at a loss for words. Her childhood friend, on the other hand, seemed quite comfortable chatting with the green eyed girl.

"Truth be told, I didn't really expect you to send Sel," Galix admitted with a hearty laugh, "but you did anyway, so it saved us a _lot_ of travelling time."

"Aria only meant to pay back debt," the youth replied coldly, "there will be no more rides. Sel says you almost broke his horn from holding on too tight."

"Come on now, be reasonable. I _was_ the one who suggested riding him in the first place."

"And he never got used to it. Sel only made an exception this time because Aria asked so nicely."

"Hold on," Elequinn frowned as she cut into the conversation. Something seemed off about the way Aria kept talking about the Neopteron, and she could hardly believe it took her this long to pinpoint exactly what it was. "Correct me if I'm wrong about this but…Aria, you can _communicate_ with Sel?"

"Yes."

The girl replied matter-of-factly, shooting a strange look at the huntress that seemed to be asking if she can't.

"But that's not…"

"Possible?" Aria finished Elequinn's sentence, walking up to the latter and looking straight into her eyes. "Correct. Aria is…not normal."

A peculiar look appeared in the girl's emerald eyes as she spoke. For an instant, despite being almost a head taller than Aria, Elequinn felt intimidated by her. It wasn't the same kind of fear that spread throughout her body when facing a monster, but rather a bizarre feeling that sent alarm bells ringing in the huntress's head.

"But that is story for another day. Come," the girl turned away, heading towards the opened door that led into the inside of the great tree and gesturing for the two hunters to follow her, "Aria must welcome you properly."

The ominous feeling passed, and Elequinn found herself inhaling a mouthful of air, beads of sweat glistening as they made their way down her head. Somehow, the atmosphere had felt so tense that she had forgotten to breathe.

_Weird. Was I…afraid of her?_

Looking down at her trembling hands, the huntress took a deep breath and attempted to compose herself. The idea was absurd – Aria was nothing more than a girl that hardly appeared hardly older than fourteen, not some monster that devoured humans without mercy.

And yet Elequinn could not deny the fact that, even if just for a second, she had felt afraid. She frowned as she recalled the strange light that had flashed in Aria's eyes a minute ago. That particular expression had made her appear like something inhuman.

"You okay there, Elly?" Galix stepped up beside her, a concerned look on his face as he noticed the state of confusion his friend was in.

"Yeah," Elequinn nodded, "that was…_weird_ though."

"You'll get used to it. Aria is really something else."

"Aria is beginning to get impatient. Please hurry." The green eyed girl's voice called out from in front of them, cutting the conversation between the two hunters short as they followed her lead.

Just before she closed the wooden door behind her, Elequinn caught sight of Sel on the wooden platform, his outer wings opened up and ready to take flight once more. Just before the Seltas took off, the huntress thought she saw the Neopteron waving goodbye to her with one of its scythe-like front limbs.

With a look of disbelief, Elequinn shook her head and swung the door shut. She had a feeling that the day was going to hold more surprises for her than she could even imagine.


End file.
